Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Governance

Start with who needs oversight of shared projects between public bodies and private firms and why. Around public bodies, lenders and project companies drive demand in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the other emirates.

• List 10 offers or suppliers in the UAE with price per review in AED and who buys.
• Interview 5 people from public bodies, lenders and project companies: what do they buy now, how often, what do they pay, what annoys them?
• Learn three terms: Risk allocation (giving each risk to the party best placed to manage it); Value for money (a test that the partnership beats the alternatives); Step-in right (a right to take over if the partner fails).
• Write a one-page brief: user, need, hoped-for price, and the rule that matters most.

Activity. Complete the market table, five interview notes and the brief.

Standard to meet. Price ten offers, interview five users, and state one need in one sentence.

Know the rule before the work. Main hazards here: unclear risk sharing and weak oversight. Hazard thinking means list each step, ask what could go wrong, and decide the control.

• Ask your local authority or free zone which licence, permit or inspection applies. Write the answer and the date you asked.
• For each step (define the need; allocate risk; procure; monitor delivery; review) write the hazard and the control.
• Use a hierarchy: remove the hazard, replace it, separate people from it, change the way of work, then protective equipment last.
• Keep a one-page incident rule: who you call, what you stop, what you record.

Activity. Draw the flow and mark hazard and control at each step.

Standard to meet. Name a hazard and a control for every step, and answer the licence question in writing.

The work is a short chain: define the need, allocate risk, procure, monitor delivery, review. Learn each link, then link them with records.

• Write a checklist for each of the 5 steps: input, action, check, output.
• Time each step three times and note the slowest.
• Record a defect or delay each time it happens: what, where, cause, fix.
• Measure milestones met on time; this is your main number.

Activity. Run the chain three times (simulated or real) and fill the log.

Standard to meet. Complete three logs, and give the slowest step a cause and a fix.

What you do not measure you cannot improve. Your main measure is milestones met on time.

• Define milestones met on time: what counts, what does not, and over what period.
• Draw a simple chart of the last 10 results and mark the average.
• Find the top two causes of loss with a tally sheet, then fix the biggest one first.
• Check measuring tools: are they accurate, clean and in date?

Activity. Collect a tally for one week and make a Pareto chart.

Standard to meet. Complete the tally, name the biggest cause, and plan one fix with a date.

Know the cost of one review before you set the price. Include materials, labour, energy, transport, licence share, waste and a safety margin.

• Cost per review = total cost divided by reviews sold (not made).
• Margin = (price minus cost) divided by price.
• Break-even units = fixed costs divided by gain per unit.
• Test the price with two users and write down the answer.

Activity. Build the cost sheet with AED on every line and have your mentor check it.

Standard to meet. Check that no cost is missing, and calculate the margin twice by different routes.

Customers return when you keep promises. Promise only what your workflow can deliver.

• Write a one-page offer: what is included, what is not, price, time, how you fix mistakes.
• Write a short script for the first call or visit.
• Agree dates in writing; confirm each change.
• Handle a complaint in four steps: listen, apologise for the impact, fix, record what changed.

Activity. Present the offer to two users and note changes.

Standard to meet. Write an offer with scope, price, time and a fix rule, and collect comments from two users.

Small, real and recorded. Change one thing at a time and learn quickly.

• Keep a daily log: date, units, cost, delays, defects, safety notes.
• Hold a 15-minute review each week with your mentor.
• Write down every complaint and what you changed.
• Take photos only where allowed and never of people without consent.

Activity. Complete 30 days of the log and four weekly reviews.

Standard to meet. Log 30 days, give each defect a cause, and keep weekly notes.

A decision beats a feeling. Compare plan with result and choose to scale, change or stop.

• Make a before and after table: cost per unit, defects, delays, repeat users.
• Write three lessons.
• Decide scale, change or stop, with the numbers behind it.
• Give two peers one strength and one fix each.

Activity. Present to a review room and collect one written comment from a user.

Standard to meet. Justify the decision with numbers, and give two peer reviews.

Before a public body signs a long partnership, it must show that the partnership is better than doing the project another way.

• List the options: public delivery, a partnership, or doing nothing. Cost each over the whole life of the project, not just the build.
• Discount future costs to today's value so options are compared fairly: present value = cost / (1 + rate) raised to the power of the number of years (for example, with a 5% rate, AED 100 paid in 2 years is worth 100 / 1.05 / 1.05 = about AED 90.70 today).
• Add the value of risks each option leaves with the public body, such as delay or cost overrun.
• Value for money means the partnership has a lower total cost, or better service for the same cost, once risks are included.

Activity. Cost two options for a sample school project over 20 years and decide if the partnership passes, showing the risk value used.

Standard to meet. Give all costs units and years; state and explain the risk value; support the decision with the numbers.

Each risk should sit with the party best able to control it. Clear terms decide who pays when something goes wrong.

• Build a risk register: design, construction delay, demand, operation, change in law, and force majeure (events outside anyone's control, such as a major flood). Mark who bears each one.
• Give construction and operating risks to the private partner and policy or legal-change risks to the public body.
• Include payment deductions for poor service, a step-in right (the public body may take over the service) if the partner fails, and a clear exit and hand-back process.
• Follow the procurement rules for public money: fair competition, written evaluation criteria and recorded decisions.

Activity. Draw a risk register of at least 8 risks for a sample hospital partnership, assign each to a party and justify it in one line.

Standard to meet. Give each risk one owner and a reason; describe deduction and step-in terms; list procurement steps.

After signing, governance is mostly checking. Regular monitoring catches small failures before they become large ones.

• Set measurable service standards, such as availability, response time and cleanliness scores, with a clear way to measure each.
• Track milestones against the plan and record causes of delay.
• Apply payment deductions exactly as the contract says, and keep a written record of every decision.
• Report to the public body and the public in plain words, and hold a formal review at fixed points, for example every 5 years.

Activity. Calculate performance against 4 standards from a sample monthly report and draft a short notice of any deduction.

Standard to meet. Measure each standard with units; let the deduction follow the contract clause; date the notice and keep it factual.

On the slide: L1 Basic · What a public-private partnership is

Notes: Name the public body, the private partner and the lender in a partnership and say what each does. Notes: use a school or road as the example; say that public money and law apply.

On the slide: L2 Awareness · Risk sharing and procurement rules

Notes: Explain why each risk goes to the party best placed to manage it and why procurement rules matter. Notes: examples are construction delay to the private partner and change in law to the public body; learners match six risks to a party.

On the slide: L3 Foundation · Cost two options over the whole life

Notes: Compare public delivery and a partnership over 20 years with the risk value shown. Notes: check the practice case of AED 100,000,000 plus 20 x AED 6,000,000 = AED 220,000,000 against AED 12,500,000 x 20 = AED 250,000,000, a difference of AED 30,000,000.

On the slide: L4 Practitioner · Write a risk register

Notes: Draw a risk register of at least 8 risks for a sample partnership, give each one an owner and describe a deduction and a step-in term. Notes: every risk has one owner and a reason; a delay of 90 days at AED 20,000 a day costs the partner AED 1,800,000.

On the slide: L5 Specialist · Judge delivery and decide a deduction

Notes: Analyse a monthly report against 4 standards and decide whether a deduction applies. Notes: 98.0% of 8,760 hours is 8,584.8; actual 8,410 hours is 96.0%, a shortfall of 174.8 hours; price check is AED 20,000 per review against AED 9,000 cost, a margin of 55.0%.

On the slide: L6 Advanced · Coach a team on monitoring

Notes: Set service standards, a milestone tracker and a monthly deduction notice routine for a small monitoring team. Notes: apply deductions exactly as the contract says; sample five decisions a month for a written record and a dated notice.

On the slide: L7 Super expert · Design the whole governance system

Notes: Design the value for money test, risk allocation, procurement, monitoring and review controls for several partnerships, audit weak oversight and write a 12-month plan. Notes: plan for 8 reviews a month; hold a formal review at fixed points such as every 5 years; present one risk, one saving and a target for milestones met on time.