March 9, 2016

Eno has created a new reference page about public-private partnerships (P3s), including Eno’s past work as the P3 Working Group (now the Transportation Finance Working Group). The reference page provides a one-stop shop for transportation P3 resources, including research reports and technical assistance for state and local governments.

P3s are a project delivery mechanism that involves the private sector in the designing, building, financing, and operating of a project, and has recently become a topic of interest due to limited public funding. In a P3, the private sector can provide a means of financing that allows the public sector to leverage their limited resources. However, concerns about protecting the public interest have spurred strong opposition that has led to numerous project cancellations. 

The P3 Working Group, formed in 2012 under the guidance of Eno board members Mary Peters and Norman Mineta, released a report in 2014, Partnership Financing, Improving Transportation Infrastructure Through Public Private Partnerships. This research explored how P3s can still protect the public interest and looked at the federal, state, and local barriers to transportation P3s.

Since the report’s release, the Working Group has focused on addressing local barriers to successful P3s by carrying out its P3 Technical Assistance Awards. These are intended to build technical capacity by convening public sector professionals at a one-day P3 summit and a course session about the P3 development process. The winners selected for the Awards were: Port Everglades and Broward County Government in Florida; the District of Columbia Office of Public-Private Partnerships; and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in San Francisco.

As the Technical Assistance Awards continue, the Working Group is currently shifting to a new, expanded scope that focuses on metropolitan regions, their opportunities for transportation funding and financing, and looking at the barriers to those opportunities. 

If you would like to find out more information about the Transportation Finance Working Group, past work by the P3 Working Group, or have additional recommendations for the P3 Reference Page, please contact Emily Han at ehan@enotrans.org.