Comparative Analysis of Alliancing and Public Private Partnership Cost Performance in Australasia Infrastructure Projects

Abstract

Alternative project delivery methods such as Alliancing and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) are increasingly used to deliver complex infrastructure projects around the world and in Australasia in particular. Alliancing is expected to benefit owners with superior cost control, high levels of collaboration, and better risk management. Yet, PPP has remained the dominant provider for infrastructure projects. This paper empirically compares the cost growth performance of Alliancing and PPP in Australasia infrastructure projects under the lenses of Relational Contracting Theory and Transaction Cost Economics Theory (TCE). Data were collected from state records and previous studies on 48 completed projects. The analysis of the data using change order growth, bid growth, and project growth ratios shows that alliancing outperformed PPP in meeting cost expectations. These results challenge the traditional assumption of PPP superiority in delivering infrastructure projects.