8/1/2023 0 Comments Project roadblock![]() Large, transformative infrastructure projects have traditionally been a poor fit for design-build procurement under public-private partnership models - whether unsolicited or not. It’s time for the architecture, engineering and construction industry to take a stand and reject bespoke contracts. ![]() Roadblock 2: Infrastructure procurement in general is broken It could also work with the industry to help craft model unsolicited public-private partnership legislation in jurisdictions without a statute on the books yet or amend statutes under which unsolicited public-private partnerships have been difficult to administer or execute. It could place conditions on the distribution of future grants or as part of established, successful loan programs like the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA). One way to fix this scattershot approach is for the federal government to actively advocate for and push down more uniform regulations into state and local legislation. Some only apply to certain market sectors like transit or social infrastructure, while others require a certain minimum threshold of capital spend in order to qualify for an agency’s consideration. Another challenge is that the mechanics and the breadth of these statutes vary. Indeed, as of 2018, only 24 states (and the District of Columbia) had enabling legislation allowing the private sector to submit unsolicited public-private partnerships proposals in the first place. Little uniformity exists today in enabling legislation for unsolicited public-private partnerships, making it difficult for stakeholders - including investors and project delivery teams - to scale their approaches, creating erratic deal flow and driving up transaction costs. Roadblock 1: A disorganized, patchwork regulatory regime that exists at the state and local levels ![]() Here are four prominent roadblocks and ideas on how to fix them. However, there are also some roadblocks to address first if the federal government is serious about unleashing the power of the private sector to help transform America’s crumbling infrastructure. Unsolicited public-private partnerships offer real promise and potential. And unlike in competitive bidding - where the private sector cannot actively enlist public support for its proposal over any others - teams submitting unsolicited public-private partnerships can reach out to key stakeholders in order to build support and consensus for their proposed projects. ![]() Unlike projects originating with a public-sector agency that typically include defined scopes, unsolicited public-private partnerships give private sector teams broad discretion to create new projects from scratch using their own innovative solutions. Unsolicited public-private partnerships allow the private sector to propose new, creative ways to deliver projects with a public purpose - from schools, hospitals and government buildings to roads, bridges and water treatment facilities. One way to drive this evolution is to incentivize the broader use of unsolicited public-private partnerships through federal legislation as a way for state and local governments to procure new projects. The private sector could play a bigger role in financing these projects but for this to happen, public-private partnerships need to evolve. Current systems are creaking, however, and according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), fixes would require an investment of $5.6 trillion. To keep the U.S.’s $20 trillion economy going, it needs roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and other vital infrastructure. AECOM’s Stephen del Percio says this combined with President Joe Biden’s commitment to seeking bipartisan support means that any bill passed should try to leverage private capital. As the cost of bridging America’s well-documented trillion-dollar infrastructure funding gap continues to increase, our industry has high hopes for the new administration to increase the federal infrastructure budget.
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