1. Organisational accountability and capacity-The organisational accountability for communication is enabled by nominating a lead organisation that will be responsible for formulating and implementing communication actions for the PPP project. The responsible party should generally be the Authority of the PPP project in question. However, it may sometimes be necessary to designate another agency as the responsible party for communication.

Within the agency responsible for communication, a nodal official should ideally be designated as the communication officer through whom all information should flow. In cases where a project is complex or large and communication involves co-ordination across a number of entities within and beyond the Government, a communication committee may be constituted from among these organisations to take decisions pertaining to communication.

Given the heterogeneity of activities and organisations involved in PPP initiatives, the lead organisation will have to co-opt partners and clarify their roles and responsibilities. Collaborating partners may be required for research, monitoring, and evaluation; advertising, media placement and public relations; and community-based activities and training.

2. Financial capacity for the communication programme - A budget should be drawn up for communication at the start of the project and the funds allocated. The extent of financing required for communication is a function of project complexity and sensitivity, the heterogeneity of the stakeholders to be dealt with, the state of evolution of a stable policy environment and precedents for the project, the internal organisational capacity of the implementing agency and the extent of outsourcing that is required.

Organising for PPP Communication: Global Experience

• Partnerships for Schools UK has a dedicated communications team. Its board of directors has to approve of its communication strategy. The strategic communication exercise covers all key stakeholder groups including private sector companies, local Authorities/local Government (as a partner), schools, and commentators/opinion makers/media community, which includes politicians and journalists. The communication strategy clearly defines the specific engagement strategy and approach for different sets of stakeholders.

• At Partnerships British Columbia, communications and Government relations responsibilities are an integral part of its service offering. It is linked to the partnerships services area of responsibility of Partnerships BC. Of the total of 45 staff and contractors, there are four dedicated communications and Government relations positions. There is a detailed corporate communications and Government relations plan that outlines process, strategy, tactics, messaging, etc. for the company as a whole and for the partnership/PPP programme across B.C. There are dedicated communications resources assigned to each individual project, with a focus on developing and delivering procurement communications. PBC also has a dedicated communications budget which accounts for 10-15 per cent of its total budget.

• At Partnerships Victoria, there is no specific, articulated, project-level communications programme with a specific budget at present. However, the unit supports communication activities in a number of ways, including writing articles for publications as appropriate on PPP issues, publicly releasing documents on PPP issues where the unit believes that better and broader understanding is required, providing advice to Departments through Department of Treasury and Finance officers on specific communication issues, making presentations at conferences and training courses nationally and internationally on various PPP topics, supporting the treasurer with activities such as contributing to speeches and press releases and contributing to initiatives through PV's national body, Infrastructure Australia.