A national PPP unit, central PPP task force or other sector-specific network can assist a Procuring Authority, or take the lead in training and development. Centralised resources are detailed in Section 2.1 (Contract management team set-up). The Procuring Authority can also conduct training internally, with support from another government agency, or with the involvement of external consultants (or a combination of the above).
Available support may include:
• Implementing training programs. A central authority may be able to run programs to improve the skills of employees across multiple projects or sectors where this may not be cost effective for a single PPP. If the central authority has the technical, legal or financial expertise to run this type of program this may be the optimum approach.
• Developing common tools. In a similar way to training programs, a central authority may be able to develop tools and standard contract documentation for use across several projects. For example, a standardised contract management manual that can be modified to suit individual projects, saving the project team the effort of developing this resource from scratch.
• Sharing knowledge, lessons learned and good practice. Procuring Authority interviewees in the UK waste sector spoke highly of the Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme, which gathers together contract managers to coordinate and share lessons learned. A similar initiative could be undertaken in jurisdictions where there is a pipeline of PPP projects, and a government commitment or policy to consider PPP procurement.
EXAMPLE Training during the transition from financial close to construction To assist with knowledge transfer on the Barranquilla Airport project in Colombia, workshops were carried out with new staff joining after contract award by representatives from ANI's (Colombia's National Infrastructure Agency) central knowledge teams, and the ANI team and tconsultants that structured the contract. The external consultants involved in the structuring, also worked hand-in-hand with the Procuring Authority for six months after contract signing and provided continued support, as and when necessary. For more information, see the Barranquilla Airport Case Study. |