All those p-p-p-plosives: if you don't speak PPP, you won't be in with the hip capital infrastructure in-crowd, because for the moment at least, public-private initiatives appear to be here to stay. Here's a quick guide for the p-p-p-perplexed.
What is a PPP? The official definition of a public private partnership is "a contractual arrangement between the public and private sectors . . . with clear agreement on shared objectives for the delivery of public infrastructure and/or public services by the private sector that would otherwise have been provided through traditional public sector procurement".
Does that by any chance translate as "privatisation by the back door"? Um, of course not. The PPP philosophy is actually a catch-all catchphrase beloved of jargon-driven economics - sorry, a new model of governance in which governments are seen as "enablers" rather than "providers".
Where could we find some examples? PPPs are making inroads all over the place, but especially in the UK and Canada, where the plosives are breeding at an alarming rate. The Canadian Council for PPPs - the CCPPP - is a national body, established in 1993, whose members are half from the public sector, half from the private. In the UK they're already on to 4Ps - consultancy services which work with local authorities to deliver PPP schemes in schools, waste management and social housing.
Abbreviation heaven, is it? Oh yes. Once you master the PPP part you can go on to DBO (Design, Build, Operate), DBOF (Design, Build, Operate and Finance), IDG (Interdepartmental Group), IAG (Informal Advisory Group) and even - an innovative one, this - VFM (Value For Money).
What's so good about PPPs? In theory, they combine government clout with private enterprise nippiness; in other words, they're quick and they're cheap. Or as the CCPPP website puts it, they "deliver the best bang for the buck". That's in theory.
And in practice? In the absence of standardisation many PPP projects amount to "whatever you're having yourself". There are huge union issues associated with transferring/seconding staff from public sector to private sector, often with dramatic implications for working conditions. For the private sector, meanwhile, the costs involved in bidding for contracts can be prohibitive.
Do they work? Nobody knows. Because of the way costs are spread over the project, which can be medium or long-term, you can't tell until the fat lady sings - until the PPP reaches "maturity phase". And nobody has got there yet; not even in the UK, where, as a Price Waterhouse report on our own Government's PPP website (www.ppp.gov.ie) notes, it's "still too early to know whether or not the new structures that have been put in place in recent years will meet the needs of departments and procuring authorities in the medium to long term".
