Over the past decade in Canada, public-private partnerships (P3s) and other alternative financing and procurement models (AFPs) have become more common as a means of delivering major capital projects. Infrastructure funding programs often require major projects to be considered as AFPs, and many such projects are in planning stages, underway, or complete with up to a decade of operating experience.
AFP stakeholders can offer a broad lifecycle perspective on past experiences and help inform the effective delivery of future initiatives. There is an opportunity to draw on Canadian experience with AFPs for transportation projects to identify the models being used, explore the challenges and opportunities they present, and guide agencies in making decisions about the AFP models that best suit their objectives and circumstances.
OBJECTIVES
This project would:
- Explore the intended objectives of AFPs for major road, bridge and transit projects
- Identify the challenges that Canadian public agencies face in achieving those objectives, and the approaches they have used to overcome those challenges
- Synthesize lessons learned and key considerations for different orders of government, as well as public agencies of varying size and context, that seek to use AFPs for major transportation projects
The main project tasks would be to identify a list of key research questions, create a panel of experienced key informants (e.g. from federal, provincial and municipal agencies, the private sector and industry stakeholder groups), and consult with key informants using surveys, interviews and/or panel discussions.
The final deliverable would be a report that synthesizes key informant input and summarizes the challenges facing AFPs for major transportation projects across Canada, the lessons learned from prior experiences, and the resources that are available to support future initiatives.
