COST Action

Funded by the EU the cost action P3T3 - Public Private Partnerships in Transport: Trends and Theory comprises 60 experts from 18 countries wordlwide to conduct research in the field of Public Private Partnership in the transport sector. The project runs from 2010 - 2013. The KC@W will send two representatives to be members in the Management Committee, which is the steering unit of the action.

The main objective of P3T3 is to develop a theoretical basis for PPPs in the transport sector grounded on the multidisciplinary analysis of an extensive cross-sectoral and transnational empirical data-set. This constitutes a shift from a descriptive to a normative approach allowing for the prediction and forecasting of variations, impacts and outcomes. The ultimate goal of P3T3 is to bring together and consolidate knowledge dispersed in different disciplines and countries and to use this knowledge in the development of innovative and sustainable procurement and public service delivery strategies, disseminate knowledge thereof and facilitate the advancement of education and training on PPPs.

While Public Private Partnerships (PPP) are now used in many countries for Transport capital projects, research has been, in principal, descriptive. PPPs are complex contractual arrangements extending into an unpredictable future and the economic crisis has highlighted many shortcomings. The scope of this proposal is to develop the theoretical basis for PPPs in the transport sector. Key objectives to be addressed on a national and modal perspective by the three  working groups are: (i) A decision making process for selection, implementation and operation of PPP transport projects considering ‘sustainable procurement’ and ‘value propositions’ (ii) Identification of critical success factors, test criteria and knowledge-bases for improved PPP performance (iii) Implications of the financial arrange-ment. Findings are cross-studied by auxiliary working groups focusing on the national context and the modal (urban, surface and port) context, respectively.