Search Results (321)

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are implemented through individual contracts, but their performance is often judged with indicators observed at broader sectoral or national levels. This study develops a measurement alignment framework comprising intervention–measurement alignment, statistical visibility, attribution distance, outcome completeness, and comparison credibility and applies it to Croatian PPPs. The analysis combines the national PPP register with Eurostat data for 2000–2024. It uses a six-sector difference-in-differences benchmark, applies small-cluster inference and a 9999-draw Webb wild-cluster bootstrap, adds hours worked and national-accounts gross fixed capital formation, and evaluates timing, pandemic, contamination, spillover, intensity, and leave-one-out sensitivity. In the six-sector benchmark sample, the current-price GVA coefficient is 0.149 and statistically uncertain, whereas the real GVA coefficient is 0.256 and remains supported by the wild-cluster bootstrap (p = 0.009). In the 16-sector comparison sample, current-price and real GVA estimates remain positive but are estimated with wider uncertainty. Employment, hours worked, real productivity, and real investment show no robust broad effects, while event-study diagnostics reveal poorer pre-treatment comparability in the 16-sector comparison sample. The evidence supports a cautious positive output association, not a general causal growth claim, and demonstrates that PPP accountability requires indicators aligned with project mechanisms, geography, timing, and accounting visibility. The framework explicitly recognizes environmental performance as a required outcome domain, but the available sector-level data do not permit a direct estimate of PPP environmental impacts. Full article

Background/Objectives: Healthcare workforce shortages and the challenges facing healthcare professionals are among the most pressing issues confronting contemporary health systems. This study examines the social representations of public, private, and public–private partnership (PPP) healthcare organisational models and professional practice elicited from public-sector physicians and nurses in Portugal. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between October 2022 and May 2023 using a non-probability sample of 308 physicians and nurses classified as public-sector professionals. Participants completed a free-association task concerning the public, private, and PPP healthcare models and their professional practice. The evoked terms were examined using prototypical analysis within the structural approach to Social Representations Theory. The representation of the public healthcare sector included elements such as accessibility, universality, equity, slowness, disorganisation, and resource limitations. The private healthcare sector was characterised by elements including cost, profit, speed, organisation, inaccessibility, and service quality. Results: The representation of PPPs included better management, efficiency, profit, interests, and quality, alongside a relatively frequent “No opinion” response. Professional practice was characterised by elements including caring, dedication, empathy, resilience, exhaustion, perceived undervaluation, and remuneration. Conclusions: These findings describe the social representations elicited from the present sample of public-sector physicians and nurses and should not be interpreted as evidence of objective differences between healthcare organisational models or as direct measures of motivation, resilience, burnout, sector preference, or working conditions. The findings are exploratory and hypothesis-generating and may inform future comparative research involving professionals working across different healthcare settings, as well as studies using dedicated measures of professional and occupational outcomes. Full article

Robust evaluation methods are essential for assessing the sustainability of public–private partnerships (PPPs) and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examines the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) People-first PPP and Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS) through three green PPP initiatives in Slovenia, focusing on energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable mobility. Using structured scoring across five dimensions—access and equity, economic effectiveness, environmental sustainability, replicability and stakeholder engagement—the analysis considers project-level performance, national SDG alignment and methodological applicability. The results indicate strong overall sustainability performance, but identify stakeholder engagement as a significant weakness, largely due to institutional constraints. Comparison with Slovenia’s national SDG progress in 2023–2025 shows broad alignment between project outcomes and wider sustainability achievements. The methodological review also identifies scope for improving the applicability and adaptability of PIERS indicators. Although primarily designed as a self-assessment tool, PIERS provides a systematic framework for integrating SDG principles into PPP management, especially in relation to SDGs 7, 9, 11 and 13. The study contributes empirical evidence and methodological insights for more sustainable public investment governance. Full article

Fiscal shocks in post-land-finance China are weakening the funding basis of capital-intensive metro public-private partnership (PPP) projects, but the system-level mechanism through which public fiscal stress becomes subcontractor-level financial viability pressure remains underexplained. This study examines a section-level metro PPP project ecosystem in a sub-provincial Chinese city to trace this transmission mechanism and its financial implications. The analysis combines de-identified audit evidence and interviews with a scenario-based structural NPV model and 800,000 model-generated Monte Carlo realizations under calibrated institutional scenarios. The evidence indicates that quasi-bureaucratic SPV internal capital-market arrangements convert fiscal shortfalls into vertical and horizontal cross-subsidization practices, preserving short-term project continuity while shifting cash-flow pressure downstream. This condition is defined as a strategic resilience trap: practices that preserve short-term project continuity while potentially eroding the project ecosystem’s long-term adaptive capacity. Under calibrated assumptions, improving the contract-payment channel reduces model-generated losses by approximately 4%, suggesting that payment punctuality addresses only one part of the wider internal capital-market mechanism. Full article

China’s extensive experience with Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) over the past decade offers valuable lessons for international infrastructure governance. Central to the PPP concept is the imperative to deliver Value for Money (VfM), and VfM assessment serves as a critical tool to determine whether the PPP modality is appropriate for a given project. While China’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) introduced a qualitative VfM assessment framework in 2015, its conceptual ambiguity, indicator overlap, and procedural inconsistencies have limited its effectiveness in guiding PPP decisions. This paper critically examines the existing Chinese qualitative VfM framework through comparative analysis with two international approaches: the UK HM Treasury’s three-dimensional VfM approach and the UN ESCAP’s developmental framework for Asia–Pacific countries. Through pair-wise and structural comparison, the study identifies key gaps in the Chinese model, including the absence of a preliminary applicability screening stage and insufficiently specified treatment of output clarity, scope stability, interface coordination, private-sector capability, revenue sustainability, and asset-life/contract-term alignment. Drawing on international insights, a refined VfM framework is proposed, featuring a pre-screening mechanism, a refined indicator system, and enhanced scoring methodology. The framework is applied to a complex, large-scale PPP case in China through a retrospective reassessment to illustrate its operability and diagnostic usefulness. Results show that the refined approach preserves the original positive VfM judgement while improving analytical clarity, procedural transparency, and the traceability of expert scoring. The paper concludes by discussing how a more structured qualitative VfM procedure can contribute to evaluation governance in PPP decision-making, while also identifying the need for further testing across additional PPP cases in China and beyond. Full article

Healthcare facilities are among the most energy-intensive public infrastructures due to their continuous operations, complex systems, and critical service requirements. In this context, Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs) have gained increasing attention as a strategic tool for enhancing energy efficiency and sustainability in healthcare facilities. This paper investigates the potential and implementation of EPCs in the hospital sector, with a particular focus on their integration within Public–Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks. The study addresses that gap through a cross-case analysis of fourteen hospital EPC projects implemented in Italy, the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries and Central-Eastern Europe, mapping their technical scope against a three-family taxonomy (envelope, plant systems, regulation and monitoring) and benchmarking their energy and economic performance. All figures reported derive from project documentation and contractual monitoring records. The results show that envelope-led configurations deliver the deepest reductions in primary and final energy consumption (up to 50% on the baseline), while plant-side measures, and trigeneration in particular, generate the largest absolute CO₂ savings (from approximately 500 to 17,000 tCO₂eq/yr); lighting, and building management systems (BMS) retrofits, although ubiquitous, account for a 20–25% band when deployed in isolation. The findings reframe EPCs as a configurable contract for decarbonization in healthcare environments and offer practitioners a reading grid for scoping future hospital retrofits under this framework. Full article

Germany’s global competitiveness, historically rooted in its high-quality education system, is threatened by a severe investment backlog in its public-school infrastructure. While national estimates of this deficit are substantial, the literature lacks a granular empirical analysis at the municipal level, where fiscal responsibility for these assets primarily lies. This study provides an exploratory municipal level analysis of school infrastructure investment gaps using evidence from n = 30 large municipalities in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), Germany. Using a mixed methods approach, we conduct a cross-sectional analysis integrating demographic, fiscal, and real estate data and introduce a composite “Need Score” to identify high need municipalities. The analysis identifies associations between investment backlogs and selected demographic, fiscal, and institutional indicators and evaluates the financial feasibility—but not the causal necessity—of private capital participation in educational infrastructure. Our findings reveal a profound structural underfunding, with planned municipal investments covering less than 10% of the estimated backlog. The backlog is weakly correlated with GDP growth but not significantly predicted by other common socio-economic indicators, highlighting the limitations of macro-level diagnostics. Conversely, a higher share of private school enrolment is significantly associated with a lower public investment backlog (r = −0.51, p < 0.05). A detailed financial case study demonstrates that investments in educational real estate can deliver stable, positive returns (IRR of 4.5–19.8%), under specific contractual assumptions. The paper concludes by discussing the conditions under which private capital may constitute a viable component of educational infrastructure provision within appropriate governance frameworks. Full article

The Build–Operate–Transfer (BOT) model is one of the most widely used Public–Private Partnership (PPP) methods for financing large-scale infrastructure projects. In this model, the concession period, which is the most critical parameter of the contract between the government and the private-sector investor, is a decision variable that directly affects the interests of both parties and varies depending on many uncertainty factors. The vast majority of models in the existing literature have been tested on hypothetical projects, and it is observed that parameters such as country-specific legal regulations, traffic volume guarantees, and financing conditions affecting discounting over time are not sufficiently incorporated into existing models. This study develops an integrated stochastic financial model, building on the established NPV–Monte Carlo–bargaining framework in the literature, that determines the optimum concession period for highway projects to be tendered via the BOT model in Türkiye. In the proposed model, uncertain parameters (construction cost, inflation, loan interest rate, traffic volume, toll increase rate, operation and maintenance costs) are defined with probability distributions; the Net Present Value (NPV) based financial model is solved via Monte Carlo simulation; and the obtained concession range is narrowed using a Rubinstein-type alternating-offers bargaining-game framework. The model simultaneously integrates parameters that prior studies addressed only in isolation: the equity–debt structure, loan repayment conditions, the government’s traffic volume guarantee, expropriation costs, and legal limits specific to Türkiye. The proposed model was validated by applying it to the Ankara–Niğde Highway Project, which was tendered in 2017. The results indicate that the concession range calculated by the model (11 years, 9 months, 2 days–24 years, 4 months) is consistent with the actual bids in the tender process. Following the application of bargaining-game theory, the range was narrowed to between 13 years, 4 months, and 16 days and 13 years and 5 months; this interval represents the concession range that best balances the profitability of both parties. This study provides a multidimensional evaluation framework for decision-makers by presenting comprehensive profitability analyses under different scenarios (including/excluding guaranteed traffic volumes and the project being fully constructed by the state). Full article

Public administration research provides structured explanations of collaborative governance. PPP scholarship, however, has largely emphasized macro governance frameworks, leaving micro-level collaborative drivers between internal partners underexplored. Additionally, internal transparency has seldom received attention as a governance outcome of collaboration. Building upon collaborative governance theories, this study conceptualizes collaboration in PPPs through four focal collaborative elements (FCEs): organizational capacity asymmetries, commitment to process, effective communication, and trust building. A survey instrument was used to collect experts’ opinions regarding the impact of PPP-specific characteristics, as practical mechanisms, on collaboration. The results show strong endorsement of mechanisms related to post-procurement capacity asymmetries, role/authority shifts, contractual complexity, and lifecycle discontinuities (staff changes and phase transitions). Such PPP characteristics undermine communication and information continuity. Trust building appeared to have an ambivalent role shaped by long-term incentives alongside goal drift and contractual rigidity. This study identifies the most salient mechanisms framing collaborative elements in PPP and translates them into governance implications for sustained collaboration and strengthened internal transparency across PPPs’ lifecycle. Limitations and future avenues for research based upon these findings are presented. Full article

Education systems are increasingly expected to integrate sustainability-related competencies within formal curricula; however, practical models for embedding such competencies remain limited. This study examines how financial literacy can be operationalized as a transversal sustainability competence through a public–private partnership (PPP) model implemented in Romania between 2022 and 2025. Adopting a longitudinal single-case study design, the analysis combines program-level indicators with evaluation data across three implementation phases: pilot, structured regional expansion, and national consolidation. The findings indicate that financial literacy can be progressively integrated across disciplines through teacher-mediated approaches supported by continuous professional development, adaptable instructional resources, and balanced governance arrangements. The results further show that scaling occurs through multidimensional processes involving increasing pedagogical depth, sustained teacher engagement, and gradual institutional embedding. In this context, PPPs function as enabling governance mechanisms that facilitate resource mobilization and coordination while preserving pedagogical autonomy. The study contributes to the literature by conceptualizing financial literacy as a sustainability-relevant transversal competence, advancing understanding of ecosystem-based scaling in education, and providing a practice-oriented model for integrating such competencies within formal schooling systems. Full article

Building Information Modeling (BIM) supports information integration and coordination across the construction lifecycle, but benefits depend on collaboration that is shaped by the selected project delivery method (PDM). BIM-PDM evidence is difficult to consolidate due to heterogeneous terminology and fragmented, context-specific studies. This scoping review maps which PDMs are addressed in the BIM-related literature and how adequacy is framed. Following PRISMA-ScR, Web of Science and Scopus were searched and 71 studies met the eligibility criteria. Publications increased markedly after 2018 and were geographically concentrated, with the largest shares associated with author affiliations in China, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, and the United States. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) was the most frequently examined (46 studies), followed by Design–Bid–Build (DBB) (29), Design–Build (DB) (29), Public–Private Partnership (PPP) (17), and Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) (14), while Alliancing, Lean-oriented delivery approaches, and Construction Management were comparatively underrepresented. A temporal analysis indicates a recent shift toward collaborative delivery methods in BIM research. Case-based studies are predominantly situated in public sector projects, with DBB, DB, EPC, and IPD examined across both infrastructure and building contexts, while PPP is limited to infrastructure. The literature is largely focused on design and construction phases, with limited attention to early project stages and operation and maintenance. Results indicate both traditional and relationship-based PDMs are studied in the existing literature, with research framing PDMs that allow for early contractor involvement as most compatible with BIM. Moreover, IPD, DB, and EPC show the best alignment compared to most used traditional DBB methods primarily due to the early involvement of the contractor in the project. EPC and DB achieve this through the allocation of responsibility to the contractor, whereas IPD relies on the early engagement of key participants and the systematic alignment of their objectives. Collaborative and relationship-based approaches are consistently presented as the most suitable for BIM, while DBB tends to constrain BIM benefits because of its fragmented nature. This study contributes by providing a systematic synthesis of BIM-PDM relationships in the scientific literature, identifying the key mechanisms underlying the suitability of different delivery methods for BIM implementation, and offering recommendations for future research based on the identified gaps. Full article

Interdependent factors in complex engineering systems propagate and amplify through directed influence networks rather than evolving independently. This study proposes a causality-informed dynamic transmission framework and applies it to risk propagation in Public–Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects. Directed inter-factor influences are quantified using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to construct a directed influence structure. Each factor’s endogenous evolution is modeled by a logistic trajectory (slow accumulation–rapid escalation–gradual saturation), while an external-transfer component separates internal dynamics from transmission-induced increments. A five-dimension, 21-factor PPP risk system is developed from the literature and failure cases. Here, “causality-informed” denotes expert-elicited directional assumptions, not formal counterfactual causal identification. The results show that transfer-driven increments concentrate mainly in technical/engineering and economic dimensions, whereas political/legal risks exhibit smaller increments; such increments are most evident for preparation-related and all-stage factors and cluster around the rapid-rise interval. We further propose the Risk Transmission Initiation Index (RTII) to identify likely upstream initiators with cascade-triggering potential, enabling prevention-oriented risk control in coupled engineering systems. Full article

Soil erosion control is an important aspect of promoting ecological civilization and a key support mechanism for achieving the ‘dual-carbon’ goals. The successful implementation of PPP (Public–Private Partnership) projects for soil erosion control requires widespread participation from farmers. Therefore, it is necessary to study the evolutionary mechanisms of farmer participation behavior and the process of their state transformation, as well as exploring how to enhance farmers’ participation willingness. First, a dynamic group model of farmers’ participation behavior was constructed by dividing them into five states: unknown, observing, participating, rejecting, and immune. Then, the strategic interactions between the government, social capital, and farmers under the PPP model were considered, and this was coupled with the dynamic group model. Finally, Chongqing City was taken as a typical case for numerical simulation to analyze the evolutionary patterns of farmers participation behavior. The results indicate that: (1) synergistic effective government regulation and active enterprise governance can elevate the farmer participation rate to approximately 71% and facilitate the convergence of the system toward a stable high-participation equilibrium; (2) government subsidies need to be controlled within a reasonable range to ensure policy effectiveness; (3) improving government publicity and enhancing the social atmosphere can increase farmers’ participation rate to approximately 71% and 78%, respectively, significantly boosting their willingness to participate; (4) improving the social security system and reducing perceived risks can help increase farmers’ participation rate. The research conclusions can provide a valuable reference for local governments in China in formulating soil erosion control policies. Full article

Public–private partnership (PPP) has been increasingly imported to deliver infrastructure and public services around the world. As an emerging public procurement mode, PPP has drawn considerable attention both from academy and industry. We construct a PPP shareholder network of China and analyze its topological complexity, robustness, and geographic structure. We find that the PPP shareholder network exhibits small-world behavior and a heavy-tailed degree distribution. Using multiple centrality measures, we investigate the network robustness under various attack strategies. The results show that the targeted attack destroys the network more efficiently than the random attack, especially the degree-based and betweenness-based attacks. For geographic topology, it exhibits a hierarchical spatial structure in which Beijing is the central hub and provincial capitals are regional centers. Our research has significant implications for policy-making to improve supervision for enterprises involved in PPP projects. Full article

Urban regeneration practices have gained prominence in urban planning in different contexts. Among the different areas subject to urban regeneration, waterfronts stand out as privileged areas of the city and are, therefore, very attractive for new uses. Public–Private Partnership (PPP) agreements are often used to implement these projects. However, PPP agreements in regeneration projects are complex and, in many cases, produce controversial results, either in relation to the partnership itself or to the project resulting from that partnership. In this sense, it is important to provide recommendations for the development of these processes and the resulting projects. Based on this, the present study conducts a comparative analysis between the Brazilian, Italian, and UK contexts regarding PPP arrangements in urban regeneration projects and a comparative analysis between three specific case studies: Porto Maravilha in Rio de Janeiro, Porta a Mare in Livorno, and Harbourside in Bristol. Based on the analyses carried out, the study provides recommendations for improving these practices and the resulting projects. In this sense, it is expected that the study contributes to the state of the art on the subject. Full article