Executive Summary

Dedicated public-private partnership (PPP) units include any organisation set up with full or partial aid of the government to ensure that necessary capacity to create, support and evaluate multiple public-private partnership agreements are made available and reside in government. Although dedicated units are considered a relatively recent phenomenon, in 2009 over one-half of all OECD member countries reported the existence of a dedicated PPP unit of some kind (see Table 0.1). The establishment of a dedicated unit serves to enhance the capacity of government to successfully manage the risks associated with a growing number and value of publicprivate partnerships. Given the substantial sums involved and the long duration of public-private partnerships, the importance of risk allocation, and the contractual complexity of the relationship, the management of public-private partnership agreements requires a high level of capacity.