Within the public sector there are many sectors PPP could be applied. However, not every project is suitable for this form of outsourcing. It is excellently suited to public tasks where the responsibility can be defined for a longer period and where the scale of the project is sufficient. They do not necessarily have to be large single projects. If a number of individual schools, for instance, can be included within in one contract the scope where PPP can be beneficially applied becomes wider.
PPP benefits
PPP is often mentioned as being a solution for a lack of governmental resources or for financing the governmental deficit. The greatest benefits of PPP concessions derive from the added value of optimisation of the service by the provider, allowing the government to keep hold of the reins while at the same time minimising its own involvement in the actual execution of the work. An additional benefit is indeed that projects can be realised earlier than would otherwise be possible within the current budgets, because they have been financed up front by a private party. However, this should not be an objective per se and must certainly never be at the expense of the quality of the government service itself.
Spreading the PPP gospel
Despite positive signals, the good experiences with the various pilot projects and the efforts of both the PPP Knowledge Centre and the various market players, our opinion is that PPP and Innovative Tendering is not turning into the tendering form in The Netherlands that it deserves to become. This means that market parties will shy away from it as a result of the high initial costs. The flow of projects on offer is still too limited to provide good prospects of a long-term development. Because no statements have been made at national level regarding the benefits that PPP has to offer, there is also a certain reticence and a wait-and-see attitude among the local authorities. We still think that there are plenty of opportunities here, though. We acknowledge that we can (and must) also play an active part in "spreading the PPP gospel". For that reason, we are represented in various working groups and we are also ready to give.