New Thinking for More Effective, Accountable, and Sustainable Public-Private Partnerships

Abstract The final chapter of this book collates the lessons and insights drawn from both theory and the case evidence to highlight pivotal issues and challenges in contracting for public value through PPPs. The discussion in this chapter is centered around four key themes: (1) championing public value in both formal and informal aspects of a PPP contract; (2) rethinking PPP governance and centering relationship building in the scaffolding of a PPP; (3) fortifying PPPs with effective institutional and accountability mechanisms; and (4) envisaging systems change for furthering long-term, public-private collaboration. In reflecting on how future PPPs can be more effectively designed and managed to generate greater public value, the predominance of the traditional formal contract that has governed most PPPs is challenged, and new thinking is introduced about systems change to enhance the opportunities for and success of formal-relational contracting in PPPs. The contributions of this book in generating novel theoretical and empirical insights to inform practice and to craft more effective, accountable, and sustainable PPPs are summarized in the conclusion, while questions are posed for both practitioners and academics to consider as they strive to improve PPP contracting models and strengthen accountability for public value in PPPs.