Using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for the procurement of public hospitals

Public-Private Sector Partnerships (PPPs) provide a means for developing public infrastructure without directly impacting upon Government budgets. Social infrastructure projects are generally smaller in scale than economic infrastructure projects, however, they tend to be more complex, mainly because of the on-going involvement with the community. Private sector tenderers for social infrastructure PPPs are often presented with a situation where operational complexity, including government policy towards risk allocation and the sharing of revenue, is a key difference in whether PPPs are as attractive for social infrastructure projects compared with economic ones. This paper focuses on the procurement selection process for healthcare infrastructure in Australia and the results are presented from a case study of a PPP hospital project in New South Wales.