About Procuring Infrastructure PPPs 2018

Robust and reliable infrastructure is a key driver of economic growth and improved standards of living.1 Public infrastructure such as roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, water supply, sewers, and electrical grids are essential elements in all societies, providing connectivity and creating networks that facilitate business and remove barriers in access to jobs, markets, information, and basic services. Yet every region of the world faces a chronic infrastructure gap. In order to address this gap, governments around the world have turned to public-private partnerships (PPPs) to design, finance, build, and operate infrastructure projects, while also addressing budgetary constraints.2 While there is no standard, internationally accepted definition of PPPs, the term denotes "any contractual arrangement between a public entity or authority and a private entity, for providing a public asset or service, in which the private party bears significant risk and has management responsibility."3 While PPPs are not inherently superior to traditional methods of procuring infrastructure, they possess a set of traits that may make them more suitable for certain projects. Among those traits are a usually long-term relationship among partners; an orientation toward providing appropriate services; and bundling several stages of the project together for more effectively controlling costs and deadlines and permitting the government to focus on its core tasks.4 From expanding safe drinking water access in Somalia to improving road conditions in land-locked Uganda, PPPs have been providing tangible benefits to people's lives in countless ways.5

As emphasized by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), investment in quality infrastructure is crucial to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities around the world.6 Moreover, under the aegis of the SDGs, the development agenda offers an opportunity to think more broadly about the role of PPPs in increasing investment in quality infrastructure. One of the targets of the SDGs is to "encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships."7 Thus, reforms of the regulatory framework specific to PPPs have been implemented around the globe as economies' leaders have recognized that the "enabling of fair and transparent PPP legislation is vital to the development of a market economy."8 Furthermore, it has been well documented by academics and multilateral organizations that creating a clear legal framework and solid institutional basis is a "critical success factor" for PPP projects.9,10 Currently, inefficient and corrupt procurement not only stalls the completion of infrastructure projects but also lowers the quality of infrastructure. Moreover, the design of the procurement process itself affects the ability of governments to take full advantage of the potential benefits of PPPs for delivering infrastructure. This includes their ability to identify which projects are best done as PPPs and to manage contracts in a transparent and effective way.

Benchmarking PPP Procurement was initiated in 2015 with the preliminary goal of supporting a better policy-making process by highlighting key aspects of an economy's regulatory framework for procuring PPPs. The exercise was inspired by the methodology of the World Bank Group's Doing Business report, which assesses the business climate in 190 economies and has a track record of leveraging more than 3,000 reforms to date. Procuring Infrastructure PPPs 2018 is a continuation of Benchmarking PPP Procurement 2017, scaling up from 82 to 135 economies. It expands upon the 2017 edition by meticulously evaluating the laws and regulations of 135 economies against globally recognized good practices, to offer data to help governments assess the performance of their procurement systems for PPPs, deliver a unique information tool for the private sector and civil society, and fuel academic research in an emerging field. More importantly, the Procuring Infrastructure PPPs 2018 exercise aims to help governments and others identify areas for reform to achieve more transparent, competitive, and efficient PPP procurement systems and, where appropriate, increase private sector participation in infrastructure and service delivery.