The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Panel on Public-Private Partnerships (P3s), co-led by Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), released its final report on how to balance the needs of the public and private sector when financing the nation’s infrastructure on Wednesday.
“We know the private sector has significant interest in investing in U.S. infrastructure, but the challenge has been how to make sure our federal policies allow this potential to be responsibly unlocked while also protecting the public interest,” Shuster said.
The panel was charged with examining the current use of P3s across the committee’s jurisdiction – including all modes of transportation, public buildings, water and maritime infrastructure.
The final report makes recommendations to grow public sector capacity to better structure agreements and ensure the needs of the public sector are adequately protected. It also proposes improvements to traditional procurement processes. The report includes a series of recommendations for breaking down barriers to P3s, and changes to federal programs to allow for partnerships to be more easily considered by states and localities. The report also recommends steps to ensure transparency and accountability for P3s.