Both the Procuring Authority and Project Company can have responsibilities to engage with the community on the current status of the project and any issues affecting end-users and local community. It is important that the communication from both sides is well-coordinated and consistent.
It may be difficult however for the Procuring Authority to properly incentivise the Project Company to undertake the same level of community engagement as what the Procuring Authority desires. Where the Project Company is primarily driven by profit objectves, undertaking additional community engagement where there is no associated payment mechanism may not sufficiently incentivise the Project Company.
One method for addressing this issue is to be very prescriptive about what is required in the PPP contract. This could involve setting specific requirements for staffing or meeting frequencies with community stakehodlers.
As is detailed in Section 3.2 (Performance monitoring), the Procuring Authority should closely monitor the Project Company's actions when the Project Company is required to enagage with community stakeholders. If not done correctly, the issue will not just be a Project Company issue, but will also affect the Procuring Authority irrespective of where the obligations and the risks are allocated.
| EXAMPLE Zaragoza Tramway During the construction phase of the Zaragoza Tramway project in Spain, the Project Company employed a communications director, and information offices were set up so any individual or business could seek information about the project or any issues arising regarding the construction. During operations, there was a customer service office to respond to complaints and questions from members of the public. This was seen as a useful way of engaging with users, as well as an opportunity to gather feedback to improve the service itself. For more details, see the Zaragoza Tramway Case Study. |
| EXAMPLE Prescriptive contractual requirements The Project Company in one of the case studies was required under the PPP contract to hire a certain number of staff dedicted to community engagement and to hire staff with defined qualifications. |