Unless the government is deeply experienced in contracting PPPs, there will be occasion to hire transaction advisors and/or specialist advisors such as lawyers, financial analysts, financiers, economists, sociologists, and sector specialists to support the government. These advisors can be procured as a team or recruited individually, in which case coordination among the team members should be ensured. Advisors will pay an important role in maintaining momentum, developing strategies for government consideration, helping develop public messages and information, performing analysis of PPP options, and supporting the bidding and negotiation processes.
The specialist advisors should be brought into the process early and should be paired with government counterparts. As PPP is considered, government should be identifying potential local counterpart staff, developing a PPP unit or PIU, and should be training staff to take on new responsibilities. The local capacity building should be supported through working relationships with any advisor.
Ideally, technical advisors would continue support through to contract signing and possibly beyond. The bid and negotiation process involves repeated clarifications and iterations of the bid documents, often occurring swiftly. The process must be well organized, politically defensible, and must lead to a good outcome. If external support (financial, legal, and technical) to the government is not available at this stage, key government officials must have received training in negotiation and be completely familiar with the content and intent of the bid package (the contract, bid documents, and bid forms).
Similar technical assistance may also be necessary to build capacity at the entity charged with monitoring contract compliance and progress targets.