There is no single, internationally accepted definition of 'Public-Private Partnership'. This Reference Guide takes a broad view of PPP, as:
A long-term contract between a private party and a government entity, for providing a public asset or service, in which the private party bears significant risk and management responsibility, and remuneration is linked to performance.
This definition encompasses PPPs that provide new assets and services, and those for existing assets and services. It can include PPPs in which the private party is paid entirely by service users, and those in which a government agency makes some or all of the payments. The project functions transferred to the private party-such as design, construction, financing, operations, and maintenance-may vary from contract to contract, but in all cases the private party is accountable for project performance, and bears significant risk and management responsibility. Section 1.1: What is a PPP: Defining 'Public-Private Partnership' provides more information on the range of contract types that constitute PPPs under this definition and the different nomenclature used to describe them.
The definition encompasses contracts in many sectors and for many services, provided that there is a public interest in the provision of the service, and the project involves long-life assets concomitant with the long term of the PPP contract. Throughout this Reference Guide, the term 'infrastructure' is used loosely to cover this range of sectors and services for which PPPs are used. In this context, 'infrastructure' includes economic, social, and government infrastructure-that is, the 'basic physical and organizational structures' needed to make economic, social, and government activity possible (using the Oxford English Dictionary definition). Section 1.2: How PPPs Are Used: Sectors and Services describes further the range of sectors and services for which PPPs are used.