Do public–private partnerships achieve better time and cost performance than regular contracts?

Abstract

Infrastructure development with public–private partnership (PPP) contracts has been claimed to lead to better performance compared to regular contracts. However, the empirical evidence for this claim is weak. The authors assessed the difference in the actual performance of Dutch infrastructure PPP projects (design–build–finance–maintain: DBFM) compared to regularly procured projects (design-and-construct: D&C). DBFM projects demonstrated significantly better cost performance. IMPACT Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have been widely used for the development and management of transport infrastructure, such as highways, railways, and waterways. However, hard evidence that PPPs perform better than regularly procured projects is lacking. Existing evidence tends to rely on anecdotal and perceptual data. This paper provides policy-makers and managers with real information about the actual performance and benefits of PPPs.