The reference tool can be used by public officials in any country in either common or civil law jurisdictions. It provides guidance on projects delivered not only under a jurisdiction's specific PPP laws, but also projects that are delivered under concession laws or other laws that fall within the broad definition of a public private partnership.
For the purposes of the reference tool, a PPP contract is taken to mean a long-term contract between a Procuring Authority (government or other public agency), and a Project Company (private partner or commercial partner) for the development and/or management of a public asset or service, where the Project Company bears significant risk and management responsibility throughout the life of the contract, and where remuneration is significantly linked to performance and/or the demand or use of the asset or service. It covers both greenfield and brownfield projects.
This definition is deliberately broad. It includes projects where demand risk is passed entirely on to the private partner (also known as 'user-pay' projects or concessions), and projects that are based on availability payments by government irrespective of demand (availability-based projects). It also includes, for example, power purchase agreements where a government entity is the purchaser of the power.
Although the data collection and case study elements of the research are focused solely on economic infrastructure projects across transport, energy, water and waste, many of the broader principles of contract management are applicable to other projects, including social infrastructure projects, such as school and hospital projects.