Enabling Public-Private Partnerships

The need for greater investment in the country’s inadequate infrastructure system is increasingly apparent. High profile examples of the inadequacy, such as LaGuardia Airport in New York, as well as systemic weaknesses exposed by long-standing underinvestment in maintenance underscore the urgency. In response, a majority of states have enacted public-private partnership enabling statutes to provide a framework that guides the public and private sectors in working together on capital projects ranging from bridge replacement to public university student housing. States have found that a statute creates significant value because it demonstrates the public sector’s commitment to partnering and because the resulting framework leads to certainty and transparency with respect to the procurement process. Given the growing infrastructure challenges faced throughout the country, greater use of the public-private partnership framework, particularly when leveraged with some form of tax-exempt financing, would better position the public sector to undertake such critical capital projects. 

This course, presented by Patrick O’Sullivan, Partner at Herrick Feinstein LLP, reviews the public-private partnership framework and highlights how the model has been used in states such as New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas for projects ranging from airport redevelopment to bridge replacement to student housing. 

1. Identify the different forms public-private partnerships (P3s) can take
2. Learn why states have adopted P3 enabling statutes
3. Understand how P3s have been used for different types of capital projects
4. Assess how P3s can be combined with traditional tax-exempt financing for infrastructure projects