Building Stronger Institutions to Deliver Better PPPs: The Role of Contract Management
There is unprecedented interest among developing countries to attract private investment into infrastructure and basic services to meet growing national demand. Today, nearly all developing countries have successfully brought an infrastructure public-private partnership (PPP) to market. Establishing strong PPP frameworks and institutions communicates a government’s commitment to PPPs and is expected to foster efficiency and accountability in their governance and lead to higher quality transactions. PPPs can be implemented on a one-off basis without any specific supporting legal and institutional framework. However, to fulfill countries’ ongoing infrastructure investment requirements and to generate value-for-money transactions, they will need to go beyond first-mover projects to establishing PPP programs that encourage an active bidder and financing market. To better understand the drivers of success for PPP programs and how development partners can best provide support to national governments to establish and build their PPP program, the World Bank Group ’s Infrastructure, PPPs, and Guarantees (IPG) group and the public-private infrastructure advisory facility (PPIAF) established the PPP institutions building program. The program undertook: (i) analysis and research to identify critical factors for success and failure of PPP programs, and (ii) a review of tools, resources, and technical assistance provided to develop PPP institutions. This practice note describes findings and lessons learned relating to the role of contract management in the success of PPP programs.