tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/public-private-partnership-26507/articlesPublic-private partnership – The Conversation2023-07-11T22:22:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2087222023-07-11T22:22:58Z2023-07-11T22:22:58ZBetter collaboration between public and private sectors could improve urban public transportation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536683/original/file-20230710-15681-6tl5ls.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C8614%2C5742&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Ottawa Light Rail Transit train travels along the tracks in Ottawa in June 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s no secret that <a href="https://storeys.com/toronto-transit-bad-to-worse-congestion/">Toronto is falling behind</a> on sustainable transportation <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/toronto-is-6th-worst-city-for-commuting-study-finds-1.3983117">compared to other cities around the world</a>, hurting the city’s economy, quality of life and <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/01/12/toronto-ranks-one-of-the-worst-worldwide-for-traffic-congestion-report-finds.html">reputation</a>. </p>
<p>Cities like Toronto are struggling with <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220209/dq220209b-eng.htm">growing populations</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-94">public health problems</a> including mental illness and drug addiction, <a href="https://policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/monitor-marchapril-2023">inequality</a>, a <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/news/city-council-declares-climate-emergency-and-commits-to-accelerating-action-to-address-climate-change/">climate emergency</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2020-0075">biodiversity loss</a>, <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/traffic-air-pollution-toronto/">pollution</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-state-of-repair-1.6612766">decaying infrastructure</a>. </p>
<p>We need to rethink cities and urban change by embracing talent, innovation and collaboration, as suggested by the <a href="https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals">United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17</a> and <a href="https://www.c40.org/news/how-youth-activists-cities-can-work-together-climate/">C40 cities</a> priorities. </p>
<p>Since <a href="https://www.tvo.org/article/toronto-is-in-crisis-what-can-we-do-about-that-right-now-today">the status quo isn’t working</a>, how can we adopt better urban designs? The answer lies in more effective public-private partnerships (PPPs).</p>
<h2>Better public-private collaborations</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118682">My recent research on sustainable transportation PPPs</a> shows they don’t work well for the private sector — despite public perceptions that private companies receive lucrative contracts.</p>
<p>A recent example is Toronto’s <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/eglinton-crosstown-delays-verster-metrolinx-1.6824272">Eglinton crosstown light rail transit project</a>. It has not only caused <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/09/26/get-your-act-together-anger-over-latest-delay-of-eglinton-lrt-sparks-calls-for-public-inquiry.html">construction and traffic delays</a>, but has also <a href="https://storeys.com/eglinton-crosstown-lrt-delay-crossli/">eroded the city’s relationship with its private partner</a>.</p>
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<img alt="An electric out of service sign posted outside an electric rail stop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536678/original/file-20230710-14032-3bc1o2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536678/original/file-20230710-14032-3bc1o2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536678/original/file-20230710-14032-3bc1o2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536678/original/file-20230710-14032-3bc1o2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536678/original/file-20230710-14032-3bc1o2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536678/original/file-20230710-14032-3bc1o2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536678/original/file-20230710-14032-3bc1o2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Out of Service’ signs are shown on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT in Toronto on May 5, 2023. The Eglinton Crosstown LRT has been under construction for 12 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
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<p>PPP management needs re-examining through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650314568537">cross-sector collaboration</a>. Proven PPP management expertise is valuable as an export because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784483978.009">other cities and countries</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00736.x">haven’t figured them out either</a>.</p>
<p>Toronto’s <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgq4b7/people-who-left-toronto-on-how-their-lives-got-better">housing and transit problems</a>, coupled with unacceptable levels of inequality, are clear, but these problems are not widely understood as part of an urban design problem that needs input from local talent. </p>
<p>To tackle these challenges, cross-sector collaboration is needed. Improving PPP processes will ensure all partners are on the same page and motivated to achieve common goals. We need a common vision while building better and faster.</p>
<h2>A better Ontario</h2>
<p>During COVID-19, people voluntarily left Toronto for outlying communities. Many would like to live in a smaller city or town and either work locally, <a href="https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/80-per-cent-of-canadians-would-seek-new-job-if-forced-back-to-office-survey-finds-1.6104878">remotely</a>, or have fast transportation to a Toronto office.</p>
<p>Helping commuters access a <a href="https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2022/04/small-towns-luring-people-out-big-cities/">higher quality of life in smaller cities</a> makes a lot of sense for Toronto and its surrounding communities. Smaller towns would <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9429786/canada-immigration-smaller-cities/">benefit from local growth and increased tourism</a>.</p>
<p>These recent developments support a distributed model of interlinked cities connected by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02492.x">electric high-speed rail</a>. Toronto is a centre surrounded by <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220209/dq220209b-eng.htm">increasing suburban sprawl</a> exacerbated by <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2022/11/09/greenbelt02.html">provincial plans</a> to pave over <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/greenbelt-oak-ridges-moraine-regulations-1.6692337">critical green space in the Greenbelt</a> for more <a href="https://environmentaldefence.ca/stop-the-413-3/">highways</a> and <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-greenbelt-plan-ford-housing/">single-family houses</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, why not develop other cities by connecting them to Toronto and to each other?</p>
<p>Toronto would not need to continue its sprawl if people could commute quickly from other, more affordable communities. Ontarians could commute and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2019.103212">visit one another easily</a>. Commuting, tourism and improved collaboration across regions are important, but neglected, social goals.</p>
<p>All levels of government need to be involved in making this solution a reality. A beautiful place like <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/01/22/can-wasaga-beach-find-its-way-out-of-the-shade.html">Wasaga Beach</a> could become a thriving town through electric high-speed rail connections. This model of connected, distributed city centres would <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfj.2021.100645">improve Ontario for all of us</a>. </p>
<h2>Is high-speed rail a reality?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/policies/updated-feasibility-study-high-speed-rail-service-quebec-city-windsor-corridor">Québec-Windsor corridor</a>, which stretches between Québec City and Windsor, has the population density to support high-speed rail. An electric “High Frequency Rail” for this region <a href="https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2023/04/toronto-quebec-city-high-frequency-rail-soon-be-reality.51982">could be back on the agenda</a>.</p>
<p>Density and connectivity is a “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/increase-go-service-build-communities-business-growth-1.5248840">chicken-and-egg</a>” game when it comes to transportation. Transit access points attract more activity and density because they are connected to other places. </p>
<p>But density is also attracted to existing density where services already exist — for Toronto, this means more sprawl. We have to increase density in smaller towns with well-connected, safe, sustainable, high-speed transportation.</p>
<p>If we build high-speed electric rail across Ontario in <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.894697">environmentally sensitive ways</a>, other cities could grow as well. We could also electrify and expand <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-go-transit-electrification/">GO Train service</a> and infrastructure.</p>
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<img alt="A train driving past a crossing sign on train tracks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536682/original/file-20230710-11220-5bfxo3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536682/original/file-20230710-11220-5bfxo3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536682/original/file-20230710-11220-5bfxo3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536682/original/file-20230710-11220-5bfxo3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536682/original/file-20230710-11220-5bfxo3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536682/original/file-20230710-11220-5bfxo3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536682/original/file-20230710-11220-5bfxo3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Via Rail passenger train makes its way along the tracks in Ottawa in July 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
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<p>But <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9493056/political-push-continues-high-speed-rail-service-canada/">political will</a> is necessary for this vision to become a reality. <a href="https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/oil-gas/taxpayers-20-billion-loss-trans-mountain-pipeline">Billions of tax dollars are currently wasted</a> on projects completely unaligned with international climate commitments, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/paris-climate-change-trans-mountain-1.4683465">like the Trans Mountain pipeline</a>.</p>
<p>Government priorities need to be redirected to build <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.1998.9521284">personal connections</a>, rather than resource connections, across the country. For example, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-via-rails-holiday-meltdown-shows-canadas-railway-policy-has-utterly/">Via Rail</a> has to use the same rails that freight trains use. Since the priority is freight, not moving people, this slows down Via Rail service. </p>
<h2>Canada is playing catch-up</h2>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-high-speed-rail-development-worldwide">a number of other countries around the world</a> that have invested, or are investing, in high-speed rail. Canada is currently the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/nawaz-high-speed-rail-would-put-montreal-on-the-right-track">only G7 country</a> to not have high-speed rail. </p>
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<img alt="A train speeds by a man dressed in a police uniform" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536681/original/file-20230710-29-x5e7ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536681/original/file-20230710-29-x5e7ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536681/original/file-20230710-29-x5e7ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536681/original/file-20230710-29-x5e7ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536681/original/file-20230710-29-x5e7ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536681/original/file-20230710-29-x5e7ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536681/original/file-20230710-29-x5e7ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A policeman watches while a CRH high-speed train leaves the Beijing West Railway Station in Beijing, China in December 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>China <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/china-high-speed-rail-cmd/index.html">has the longest network of high-speed railways</a>, with trains reaching normal operating speeds of 350 kilometres per hour. </p>
<p>Europe has distributed density by connecting cities with dependable high-speed rail. Japan is another established economic powerhouse leading in high-speed electric rail. </p>
<p>Morocco has high-speed rail between Casablanca and Tangier at 320 km/hr and plans to connect 43 cities with rail. Africa plans to complete a <a href="https://northeastmaglev.com/2023/04/06/the-status-of-high-speed-rail-africa/">continental high-speed rail system by 2033</a>. Other countries with high-speed rail include Uzbekistan, Thailand, Russia, Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. </p>
<p>Sustainable transportation, such as high-speed rail, would benefit the Toronto region in numerous ways. Ontario has a unique opportunity to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118682">develop more effective PPP processes</a> to accelerate the implementation of high-speed rail.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah de Lange receives funding from SSHRC and ESRC. </span></em></p>Ontario has a unique opportunity to develop more effective public-private partnerships to accelerate the implementation of high-speed rail.Deborah de Lange, Associate Professor, Global Management Studies, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653762021-11-06T12:18:31Z2021-11-06T12:18:31ZCongress passes $1T infrastructure bill – but how does the government go about spending that much money?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418131/original/file-20210826-23-i3p4sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6863%2C4578&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The $1 trillion bill was a heavy lift for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (center). Next up: the budget reconciliation bill known as Build Back Better.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-speaks-to-a-reporter-as-she-news-photo/1336194937?adppopup=true">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. Congress passed an infrastructure bill that funds more than a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-business-broadband-internet-congress-d89d6bb1b39cd9c67ae9fc91f5eb4c0d">trillion dollars in nationwide federal spending</a> on Nov. 5, 2021.</p>
<p>The bill puts <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/10/senate-infrastructure-bill-what-is-in-it/">about US$240 billion</a> toward building or rebuilding roads, bridges, public transit, airports and railways. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/breaking-down-the-infrastructure-bills-impact-on-climate-change">More than $150 billion is slated</a> for projects that address climate change, like building electric vehicle charging stations, upgrading energy grids and production to work better with renewables, and making public transit more environmentally sustainable.</p>
<p>There’s funding for cybersecurity, clean water and waste treatment systems, broadband internet connections and more.</p>
<p>The bill is the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/10/us/politics/infrastructure-bill-passes.html">largest investment in the nation’s infrastructure in decades</a>. </p>
<p>So how does the government go about spending all that money? </p>
<p>Officials are required to follow certain procedures, regulations and guidelines for advertising and gathering bids, reviewing them and then hiring contractors to do the work. This process is called “public procurement.”</p>
<p>What’s interesting to me and my colleagues who study public procurement policy is how this massive influx of spending <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2019.1644654">can be used as</a> an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPM.2019.099553">innovative policy tool</a> to further the government’s social, economic and environmental goals. </p>
<p>Judging from President Joe Biden’s executive orders <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/">prioritizing action on climate change</a> in contracting and procurement and ensuring <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/04/27/executive-order-on-increasing-the-minimum-wage-for-federal-contractors/">equitable compensation</a> for workers employed by federal government contractors, his administration will encourage the use of the power of procurement to achieve environmental, social and economic policy goals. </p>
<p>To understand how public procurement can be used to improve social equity or speed up climate action, it helps to know the basics of how it works.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418132/original/file-20210826-21-s7v0uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A car drives along a road in need of repair" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418132/original/file-20210826-21-s7v0uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418132/original/file-20210826-21-s7v0uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418132/original/file-20210826-21-s7v0uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418132/original/file-20210826-21-s7v0uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418132/original/file-20210826-21-s7v0uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418132/original/file-20210826-21-s7v0uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418132/original/file-20210826-21-s7v0uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rhode Island consistently ranks as one of the worst states in America for the condition of its infrastructure, with an estimated 24% of its roads in poor condition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/car-drives-along-a-road-in-need-of-repair-on-april-09-2021-news-photo/1311722271?adppopup=true">Spencer Platt/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>How do government officials buy infrastructure?</h2>
<p>The process starts with a formal demand from an agency like the Department of Transportation or Public Works and the selection of the best procedure for awarding the contract for a funded project. </p>
<p><a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA471905.pdf">For several decades, government infrastructure procurement</a> processes have generally taken one of two forms: “design-bid-build” or “design-build.” </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA471905.pdf">design-bid-build option</a>, governments separate the contracts into two tracks – project design and project construction, one following the other. A major advantage of <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA471905.pdf">design-bid-build</a> is that agencies are familiar with this traditional way of building things. The main disadvantage is that it requires a three-way relationship – with the government working with both the designer and the builder, and the designer and builder also working together – that heightens the potential for conflict during the project. And that can sometimes lead to increased costs. </p>
<p>An example of the design-bid-build method is the Virginia Department of Transportation’s <a href="https://www.cormankokosing.com/project/i-95-telegraph-road-interchange-improvements/">I-95/Telegraph Road Interchange project</a>, which involved building 11 new bridges and highway flyover ramps in Alexandria. A professional services firm named Dewberry <a href="https://www.dewberry.com/insights-news/article/2014/03/24/I-95-Telegraph-Road-Interchange-Project-Honored-with-Two-Engineering-Awards">designed the project</a> – winning engineering awards as well as praise for avoiding negative impacts on local residents and businesses – and the separate construction firm <a href="https://www.cormankokosing.com/project/i-95-telegraph-road-interchange-improvements/">was Corman Kokosing</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Express lanes above a busy interstate highway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423934/original/file-20210929-66205-19q6y0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423934/original/file-20210929-66205-19q6y0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423934/original/file-20210929-66205-19q6y0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423934/original/file-20210929-66205-19q6y0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423934/original/file-20210929-66205-19q6y0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423934/original/file-20210929-66205-19q6y0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423934/original/file-20210929-66205-19q6y0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Express lanes built as part of the I-95/Telegraph Road Interchange project in Alexandria, Va.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-395-southbound-hot-traffic-lanes-express-lane-news-photo/1205773786?adppopup=true">Linda Davidson/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA471905.pdf">design-build procurement process</a>, potential contractors bid to do both the design and construction of the infrastructure as a single package. The main advantage of this type of contract is the direct relationship between the contractor and the government. The designer and construction firm work together as a unified project team, which may significantly decrease project completion time. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA471905.pdf">design-build</a> also requires a high level of expertise in drafting design and construction specifications from the government, because decisions need to be made early in the process, and changes may lead to an increase in costs. </p>
<p>An example of the design-build methodology is the <a href="https://dbia.org/project/us-15-over-indian-field-swamp-bridge-replacement-project/">US 15 over Indian Field Swamp Bridge Replacement Project</a> in Dorchester County, South Carolina. </p>
<p>With both of these infrastructure procurement options, the process is typically competitive among contractors, and the government owns, operates, finances and maintains the final bridge, roadway, mass transit line or other asset. </p>
<h2>Public-private partnerships</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/24/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-support-for-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-framework/">Biden administration</a> has also proposed using <a href="https://doi.org/10.2753/PMR1530-9576370407">another common type</a> of procurement for the infrastructure spending – public-private parnerships.</p>
<p>These partnerships <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2017.1313445">divide the costs</a> of designing, building, operating and maintaining a project between a private sector firm and the government over 25 or 30 years before the agreement phases out. The private firm may receive some or all of the revenues the project generates during that time.</p>
<p>Let’s say the infrastructure needed is a new toll road. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.2753/PMR1530-9576370407">government enters into a contract</a> with a private company to design, finance, construct, operate and maintain this new highway for a certain period of time. In exchange, the private company makes back its costs by collecting the revenues from the tolls. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd/project_profiles/va_capital_beltway.aspx">The Capital Beltway High Occupancy Toll Lanes</a> project in Fairfax County, Virginia, also called the 495 Express Lanes project, is just such a public-private partnership. The government agency is the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the private partner is a company formed specifically for this project called Capital Beltway Express LLC.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423929/original/file-20210929-66198-obmzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Traffic on highway next to express lane" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423929/original/file-20210929-66198-obmzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423929/original/file-20210929-66198-obmzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423929/original/file-20210929-66198-obmzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423929/original/file-20210929-66198-obmzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423929/original/file-20210929-66198-obmzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423929/original/file-20210929-66198-obmzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423929/original/file-20210929-66198-obmzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Capital Beltway High Occupancy Toll Lanes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/there-is-usually-less-traffic-in-the-express-lanes-of-the-news-photo/858536806?adppopup=true">Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Proponents argue that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2017.1313445">public-private partnerships</a> may help the government provide better <a href="https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Strategies-for-effective-procurement-FINAL-Feb2019.pdf">infrastructure without increasing public debt</a>. </p>
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<p>Public policy researchers in the Netherlands have also found that by supporting the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2018.1428415">development of trust</a> and commitment between the partners, public-private infrastructure partnerships can lead to better results in many ways, such as effective design solutions, reduced environmental impact, lower costs and better relations with and support from local communities or organizations. </p>
<p>But there are also critics. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2753/PMR1530-9576370407">Policy scholars</a> have noted that these partnerships may not really <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3552389">save governments money</a>. Other scholars have raised concerns that these arrangements cede too much <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/149401">public control</a> of infrastructure to <a href="https://trid.trb.org/view/889355">the private sector</a>, which may look out <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13876980500209363">more avidly for its own financial interests</a> than those of the public.</p>
<p>By inserting demands into government contracts, the new infrastructure spending could be used to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-8947.2004.00099.x">promote fair wages</a>, health care benefits, fair working conditions for people employed by government contractors and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPM.2019.099553">ensure that products are sourced in a sustainable and ethical manner</a>. This approach can also be used to demand <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/09513551211223785">locally</a> produced goods and services, <a href="https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJPM.2019.099553">support</a> for veteran-, minority- and women-owned businesses and spur market <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733307000741">innovation</a>, <a href="https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJPM.2019.099553">environmentally friendly</a> products and services.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Maria Dimand does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government uses a process called public procurement. A professor of public policy explains how the process works and how it is increasingly used to achieve social goals.Ana Maria Dimand, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Boise State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1073082019-01-16T11:25:33Z2019-01-16T11:25:33ZAfrica should be building private-public partnerships in education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252988/original/file-20190109-32127-1rwqkfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Africa's higher education sector could benefit from public-private partnerships.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Raywoo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Private-public partnerships have become a common strategy for countries all over the world to meet their development goals. In the global north, these partnerships – which bring capital and expertise together – <a href="https://www.globalinfrastructureinitiative.com/article/private-money-and-public-good-promoting-investment-american-infrastructure">tend to</a> focus on <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/capital-projects-and-infrastructure/our-insights/the-debate-over-private-infrastructure-financing-in-the-united-states">developing infrastructure</a>. That includes energy, ports, rail and fibre networks. </p>
<p>Such partnerships have also benefited some sectors of society in African countries and elsewhere in the global south. </p>
<p>In Africa’s education sector, public-private partnerships have been largely limited to infrastructure developments and the provision of education. It’s time for the continent’s higher education sector to develop its own partnership models that deal with a different currency: knowledge. Public-private partnerships should centre on the production, transfer and use of knowledge for social and economic development.</p>
<p>First, the sector must interrogate why strategic public-partnerships are important. What are the advantages? Who benefits? And, are there accrued benefits for those beyond the partners involved? </p>
<p>It’s also vital to examine partnerships that already exist. Their successes and failures must be interrogated. There is good work being done on the continent. Now the success stories must combine their efforts for greater impact.</p>
<h2>The mechanics</h2>
<p>Ideally, public-private partnerships in the higher education sector should involve a combination of several actors: the private sector, academic researchers and governments. Other scientific resources, such as science granting councils, have a role to play, too. The National Research Foundation in Southern Africa, National Council for Science and Technology in Eastern Africa, and Programme d'Appui Stratégique à la Recherche Scientifique in Côte d'Ivoire are examples of such councils. </p>
<p>Higher education institutions and research groups must explore and create opportunities to connect researchers. This will allow them to establish collaborative projects with other scientists throughout the continent. </p>
<p>They must also support opportunities and activities that would link researchers with projects at national laboratories and research centres run by governments and the private sector. This would allow experts and leaders from academia, government agencies and national organisations to contribute knowledge to inform transformative science and policies.</p>
<p>At the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that partnerships’ <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/International-Higher-Education-Partnerships-A-Global-Review-of-Standards-and-Practices.aspx">power relations and dynamics</a> must be carefully managed to ensure equal benefit for, for instance, those from the global south and those from the global north. </p>
<h2>Who benefits, and how</h2>
<p>Academic researchers, including students, get exposure by getting involved in real and immediately relevant research. Private sector researchers are supported with an up to date base of literature to inform their work. This knowledge and skills exchange is beneficial for both parties. Of course, it also benefits governments and nations more broadly by producing solutions to problems or challenges.</p>
<p>International and regional academic partnerships have become the “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/32036299_Symmetry_and_Asymmetry_New_Contours_Paradigms_and_Politics_in_African_Academic_Partnerships">overriding paradigm</a>” for international development cooperation and policy. As a result, the partners stand to benefit through connecting with global networks and learning from each other. </p>
<p>In addition, African perspectives and those from other parts of the developing world would be included to inform global issues. We live in an interconnected world. Problems and solutions should be addressed together, rather than from one perspective.</p>
<h2>Learning lessons</h2>
<p>As I have said, there are already networks and partnerships that involve public and private organisations in the research space, and from which lessons can be drawn and models developed. </p>
<p>A few examples include the <a href="https://www.tekcapital.com">Global University Network</a>, which consists of 4 500 research institutions across 160 countries; the <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/departments/hiv-aids-stis-and-tb/SAHARA">Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance in South Africa</a>; and the US-based <a href="https://isrn.net/">Improvement Science Research Network</a>.</p>
<p>Governments can also be drawn into existing and new partnerships. They could either act as partners, or offer links to researchers through existing bilateral or multilateral agreements in other sectors. </p>
<p>These links can used to create continent-to-continent partnerships; continent-to-country partnerships; partnerships on demand based on regional requests and requirements; and organisational partnerships. This mimics the partnership <a href="https://au.int/en/continent-and-country-partnerships">structures</a> already prioritised by the African Union.</p>
<p><em>This article is based on the author’s <a href="https://sgciafrica.org/en-za/news/Pages/The-Science-Granting-Councils-Initiative-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-Annual-Forum-and-Global-Research-Council-Africa-Regional-Mee.aspx">keynote address</a> at the Annual Forum and Global Research Council Africa Regional Meeting in Côte d'Ivoire during November 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Teboho Moja does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In Africa’s education sector, public-private partnerships have been largely limited to infrastructure developments and the provision of education.Teboho Moja, Professor, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/810752017-07-23T22:37:14Z2017-07-23T22:37:14ZFinanciers are now controlling public works, much to the public’s confusion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179098/original/file-20170720-23983-414x4m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ontarians got a taste of privatization in the 1990s, when the Conservative government of Mike Harris handed over the lucrative Highway 407 toll road in a 99-year lease for a fraction of its value.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the 1990s the large, nationally owned British Railways was split off into dysfunctionally separate entities and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/982037.stm">sold off to private owners</a> in a world-famous example of complete privatization. </p>
<p>During the recent British election, polls revealed that most citizens now support the Labour Party’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/10/labour-party-manifesto-pledges-to-end-tuition-fees-and-nationalise-railways">promise to renationalize the system.</a> </p>
<p>This may not seem very relevant to Canadians, because we never went through wholesale privatization — in part because we never had the wholesale nationalizations that Britain had in the 1950s. </p>
<p>But suddenly these international debates have indeed become relevant to Canada, although the issues here are being obscured by the downright Orwellian terminology used by infrastructure insiders.</p>
<p>In Canada, outright privatization was promoted in the mid-1990s by the neoconservative government of Ontario Premier Mike Harris. But one of the first instances of infrastructure privatization, southern Ontario’s 407 toll highway, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/03/30/pc-blunder-over-highway-407-looms-over-liberals-on-hydro-cohn.html">proved to be a disaster</a> and so enthusiasm quickly faded.</p>
<p>But while they may have shied away from completely selling off major public works, Canadian governments at all levels have still found ways to go along with the global trend of giving private capital a bigger role in public works. </p>
<h2>Not really partnerships</h2>
<p>As I’ve learned as an academic researching infrastructure governance, what’s emerged as the main Canadian model goes by the name of “public-private partnerships.” <a href="http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/imfg/research/data-visualizations/infrastructure/">Ontario</a> and British Columbia are its key promoters, though the Ontario government prefers to use the obscure term “Alternative Finance and Procurement,” which does not contain the politically sensitive word “private.”</p>
<p>If George Orwell, that foe of euphemistic <a href="http://www.vqronline.org/essay/musing-about-orwell%E2%80%99s-politics-and-english-language%E2%80%9450-years-later">government-speak</a>, was still with us, he’d likely point out that “partnership” is a highly misleading term. Major provincial infrastructure projects like hospitals, bridges and transit lines do bring public and private sector “partners” together, but they’re not partnerships.</p>
<p>A legal partnership is a long-term agreement to join forces and share financial risks over time — such as a law firm with partners.</p>
<p>But today’s public-private partnerships are actually arrangements whereby corporations provide financing, engineering, construction and design services for projects chosen by governments and ultimately funded by governments. The construction folks do their work and leave. The lenders stick around to be repaid over a long period. And any project that cannot be made attractive to the big financial players simply does not get built.</p>
<p>Infrastructure financiers, including pension funds, make big profits. But in Canada, public-private projects have so far remained publicly owned. Some of these will generate revenue — like transit lines via passenger fares — but many will not, since in Canada road and <a href="http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2017/06/22/bc-liberals-vow-to-end-bridge-tolls-credit-downgrade.html">bridge tolls are politically unpopular</a>. That’s one major reason why the financiers don’t really want to own the assets.</p>
<h2>The bill isn’t due for decades</h2>
<p>Why do governments continue to overpay for private finance, as Ontario’s auditor general <a href="http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en15/3.07en15.pdf">pointed out in 2015?</a> </p>
<p>Because of the time frame. Infrastructure investors, especially pension funds, want to secure revenue streams 30 and 40 years in the future. Even youthful Justin Trudeau will have long retired when the private finance credit-card bill comes due.</p>
<p>Another reason for the popularity and success of the Ontario/B.C. model is that governments are happy to use big contractors who hire union labour. And hospitals and prisons built through private finance and private procurement are staffed by the same public sector union workers as older facilities. So opposition from labour and NDP opposition is muted.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the infrastructure model used for the past decade, in which major infrastructure projects continue to be publicly owned and union labour is protected, is now in danger. </p>
<p>The federal government is making noises that it will fund the new “Infrastructure Bank” — which is not actually a bank but an infrastructure agency, to confuse Canadians even further — by <a href="https://www.spacing.ca/.../06/.../op-ed-does-canada-need-federal-infrastructure-agency/">selling off the few major assets that Ottawa owns</a>, mainly airports.</p>
<p>The Liberals’ Infrastructure Bank might not ever do much; its predecessor from the Stephen Harper era, Public-Private Partnerships Canada, hardly made a dent. </p>
<h2>It sounds virtuous – but isn’t</h2>
<p>But a very real danger lies in what insiders call “asset recycling,” an approach <a href="https://mowatcentre.ca/recycling-ontarios-assets/">heavily promoted by infrastructure guru Michael Fenn.</a> The term sounds vaguely ecological, but it means selling off choice public assets to raise funds for infrastructure capital costs, as Ontario did with 51 per cent of Hydro One. That selloff netted the province $9 billion.</p>
<p>The Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure’s 2017 update states that in addition to Infrastructure Ontario’s public-private projects, <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/buildon-2017-infrastructure-update">the province is also</a> “unlocking the value of existing assets …all net revenue gains from the sale of designated assets are to be credited… to support the province’s key infrastructure priorities.” </p>
<p>If you did this at home, you’d essentially be selling your backyard to pay for a new summer cottage. You can make it sound somewhat virtuous by calling it “asset recycling,” but that’s what it is.</p>
<p>And we won’t see governments selling off dilapidated public housing, which could actually use new investment. Instead, they’ll sell well-maintained, revenue-generating assets — those that would, if they remained in public hands, provide steady revenues into the future. </p>
<p>So the privatizations that Ontario’s neocon Mike Harris dreamed of in the 1990s? </p>
<p>They may be at long last be successfully implemented by a host of Liberals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81075/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mariana Valverde has received funding for research on infrastucture governance from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is not associated with any of the organizations and businesses involved in the field.</span></em></p>Canadian governments aren’t completely selling off major public works, but their embrace of public-private “partnerships” is giving private financiers control of major infrastructure projects.Mariana Valverde, Urban law and governance, infrastructure researcher; professor of criminology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/777282017-05-18T14:10:27Z2017-05-18T14:10:27ZTo stay in the game universities need to work with tech companies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169496/original/file-20170516-11941-p7tkp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world of higher and professional education is changing rapidly. Digitally-enabled learning, in all its forms, is here to stay. Over the last five years, massive open online courses (<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-dismiss-moocs-we-are-just-starting-to-understand-their-true-value-31037">MOOCs</a>) have enabled universities to share their expertise with millions across the world. This shows how rapidly developing digital technologies can make learning accessible. </p>
<p>These new technologies are shaking up traditional classrooms, too. And as the nature of work changes professionals are turning to high level, online courses to keep pace with new demands.</p>
<p>But much of this new technology is the preserve of private sector companies. This means that universities have to work with them. Yet partnerships with for-profit companies still don’t feel right for many in the higher education sphere. Knowledge has long been seen as a public good, and education as a basic right. Many of today’s universities were shaped by the principles of public funding. </p>
<p>This world was changing well before the disruptive impact of digital technologies, with tuition fees rising above the rate of inflation and the emergence of private universities as part of the higher education landscape. But there’s still unease about technology and its role. The reality, though, is that higher education institutions will have to get over their queasiness if they’re to survive in this brave new world.</p>
<p>Universities may not have the know how or the money to match the innovations coming onto the market through private tech companies. The decision by Nasdaq-listed technology education (<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/13/edtech-is-the-next-fintech/">edtech</a>) company 2U to acquire Cape Town based startup GetSmarter for <a href="http://africacapitaldigest.com/getsmarter-sold-in-103mln-deal/">R1,4bn</a> ($103million) is the largest price tag yet for a South African company working in digital education. </p>
<p>This is an indication of what it would cost a university to set up a full online division. Few institutions will have this money, or the ability to raise it. The alternative is to reconsider the advantages of public-private partnerships, taking care to retain authority over quality. For many universities this could be the only way of keeping pace with the changing world of education. </p>
<h2>The story of a start up</h2>
<p>The story of how GetSmarter got off the ground is a text book case of how a simple idea, combined with guts and luck, can reap huge rewards.</p>
<p>GetSmarter was launched in 2008 with a tiny budget and offered just one online course, in wine evaluation. By 2016 its annual revenues had grown to about R227 million. The foundation for this expansion has been a wide range of courses developed and offered in partnership with the University of Cape Town and, more recently, the University of the Witwatersrand and Stellenbosch University.</p>
<p>GetSmarter’s key breakthrough into the international realm came with professional programmes in association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cambridge University. GetSmarter’s first course with <a href="https://harvardx.harvard.edu/">HarvardX</a> will soon be presented.</p>
<p>After its acquisition was announced I talked to the company’s CEO, Sam Paddock, co-founded with brother Rob. We discussed the lessons for other small digital companies – and for universities that are mulling the value of digital learning.</p>
<p>The Paddock brothers leveraged the cash flow from their father’s niche law firm to launch their first online course. They then used upfront payments for that course and the courses that followed to keep financing their next offerings. In the nine years that followed, <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-report-predicts-edtech-spend-to-reach-252bn-by-2020-580765301.html">edtech</a> has become a crowded and complex field. </p>
<p>GetSmarter’s purchase price has garnered a lot of media attention: it’s high, in US dollar terms, and is a vote of confidence in the company. The price represents a valuation of a company’s assets, intellectual property and know-how, and strategic positioning for the future. </p>
<p>But what does it say about the kinds of investments and partnerships that conventional universities will have to make as they adapt to the full disruption from new digital technologies? The key aspect of GetSmarter’s success is how its partnership with universities has played out. As Paddock points out:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are starting to realise the potential of public-private partnerships, where the credibility and resources of great universities can be combined with the skills of nimble private operators. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Good news for the digital economy</h2>
<p>This acquisition is also good news for South Africa’s digital economy. Paddock says GetSmarter will employ more South African graduates and give them international experience and expertise.</p>
<p>And, he says, ecosystems often develop from one significant investment in an individual company. “This was how <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/about/history/history_ch3.html">Silicon Valley</a> started, as well as London’s ”<a href="http://www.siliconroundabout.org.uk/">silicon roundabout</a>“. Cape Town, GetSmarter’s home city, has been trumpeted as South Africa’s own Silicon Valley: ”<a href="http://ventureburn.com/2016/06/citi-announce-africas-first-ed-tech-cluster/">Silicon Cape</a>“.</p>
<p>The opportunity to lead in digital innovation and application has been widely recognised, for example through the work of <a href="http://acceleratecapetown.co.za/programmes/digital-cape-town/">Accelerate Cape Town</a>. The <a href="http://www.citi.org.za/">Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative</a> (CiTi) has a range of initiatives underway, including a three year partnership with <a href="http://www.citi.org.za/bandwidth-barn-announces-a-three-year-innovation-and-technology-partnership-with-telkom/">Telkom </a> intended to build the digital workforce. </p>
<p>Last year, cellphone giant <a href="http://acceleratecapetown.co.za/digital-skills/">Vodacom</a> announced an investment of R600m to assist in developing South Africa’s digital skills.</p>
<p>GetSmarter’s big win is good news and proof - if universities needed it - that such initiatives can bolster higher education’s offering in a rapidly changing world. Universities in Africa know that they need to keep up with the relentless march of digitally enabled learning. GetSmarter’s journey from bootstrapped startup to a billion rand enterprise is a case study, worthy of attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Hall advises GetSmarter on research priorities and academic governance</span></em></p>For many universities, working with private edtech companies could be the only way of keeping pace with the changing world of education.Martin Hall, Emeritus Professor, MTN Solution Space Graduate School of Business, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/647752016-09-02T14:02:08Z2016-09-02T14:02:08ZIt’s time we reinvented labor for the 21st century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136360/original/image-20160901-1012-4yr28n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Strikes don't work as well as they used to.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Striking workers via www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Labor Day, politicians have traditionally paid lip service to the plight of the worker, whom the national holiday is meant to honor. With working-class struggles taking center stage in this year’s election, we will likely hear from them more than usual talking about the steps they will take to reduce income inequality or end three decades of wage stagnation. </p>
<p>Some of them will go one step further and voice support for unions and collective bargaining, both of which have declined at the same time wages have stagnated.</p>
<p>They do so for good reason. Not only have American workers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/03/09/real-earnings-real-anger/?utm_term=.59fa5dbdcd3f">made it clear</a> they are fed up with being left behind as the economy prospers, there is a growing body of evidence that union decline is one of the key causes of wage stagnation and income inequality. </p>
<p>The solution, however, isn’t to bring back the unions of yesterday. We need to create stronger business-labor partnerships for tomorrow. </p>
<h2>Slide of union power</h2>
<p>As far back at the mid-1980s, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=SK5opOtSfpMC">our research at MIT showed</a> that collective bargaining was no longer capable of using the threat of strikes or other forms of pressure to get businesses to match negotiated wage increases.</p>
<p>Previously, strike threats and the fear of getting organized led companies to match wages negotiated in key bargains. For example, in the late 1940s, General Motors and the United Auto Workers negotiated a wage formula linking wage hikes to increases in productivity and the cost of living. Unionized businesses had to follow suit or risk a strike. Even companies without unions had to do the same if they wanted to avoid their workers getting organized.</p>
<p>Recent research shows that the decline in union bargaining power observed in the 1980s has persisted and has now taken a big toll on union and nonunion workers alike. A <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/union-decline-lowers-wages-of-nonunion-workers-the-overlooked-reason-why-wages-are-stuck-and-inequality-is-growing/">just-released report</a> from liberal-leaning think tank the Economic Policy Institute, for example, estimates that the <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">decline in unions</a> – from 23 percent in 1979 to 11 percent in 2013 – and their collective bargaining power has caused men in the private sector to earn US$109 billion less every year and women to earn $24 billion less. </p>
<p>Other recent research shows that the decline in wages has now spread to the public sector. Teachers have been <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-pay-gap-is-wider-than-ever-teachers-pay-continues-to-fall-further-behind-pay-of-comparable-workers/">especially hard hit</a>. In 1979, teachers earned just 2 percent less than comparable college graduates. In 2015, the earnings gap had widened to 17 percent. </p>
<h2>More than empty rhetoric?</h2>
<p>Research like this has convinced <a href="http://www.afscme.org/news/press-room/press-releases/2015/candidate-quotes-from-afscme-presidential-endorsement-meetings">more Democratic candidates</a> to call for rebuilding labor unions. </p>
<p>But is that possible or is it just empty rhetoric? </p>
<p>As I’ve <a href="http://theconversation.com/how-to-transform-workers-campaign-rage-into-better-jobs-and-wages-56790">argued before</a>, I believe it is empty for two reasons. First, since 1978 three major efforts to pass labor law reform to make it easier to form a union have been blocked in Congress. And there is no reason to believe this will change. </p>
<p>Second, even if unions started growing again, they would not be able to rely on their past sources of power to drive up wages. There is just too much domestic and international competition, and it is too easy to move capital and jobs to lower-wage countries. That makes it much harder to use strike or unionizing threats to get businesses to lift wages or match negotiated increases. </p>
<p>So what else can be done? In previous articles, I’ve made the case for a new labor policy that not only supports unions but also promotes labor management partnerships. <a href="http://theconversation.com/how-to-transform-workers-campaign-rage-into-better-jobs-and-wages-56790">I’ve also suggested</a> extending protection against employer retaliation to more workers, such as fast-food employees fighting for a $15 minimum wage or independent contractors like Uber or Lyft drivers. These changes would help reframe labor policy to fit the modern economy. </p>
<p>But labor policy can no longer stand alone. A more complete strategy is needed that integrates a revised labor policy with something known as a <a href="http://www.cows.org/building-the-high-road">“high road” economic strategy</a>.</p>
<p>At MIT, my colleagues and I teach this approach to our MBA students, in <a href="http://cdn.executive.mit.edu/00/000147a915d7fdabc7f93519980000/file/ton-webinarthe-good-jobs-strategy-v7pdf">executive education classes</a> and in our <a href="http://cdn.executive.mit.edu/00/000147a915d7fdabc7f93519980000/file/ton-webinarthe-good-jobs-strategy-v7pdf">public online courses</a>. We tell current and future business executives that they have a choice in how they compete in the marketplace: They can minimize labor costs and fight to keep unions out of their organizations or they can invest in their workers, drawing on their knowledge, skills and motivation to achieve high levels of productivity and customer service. And then reward those employees with their fair share of the profits they help produce. </p>
<p>Over the past two decades, <a href="http://cepr.net/publications/reports/high-performance-work-practices-and-sustainable-economic-growth">researchers have discovered</a> how companies employing this “high-road” approach – such as retailers like Costco or Market Basket, airlines like Southwest or health care providers like Kaiser Permanente – do just as well or even better on long-term financial returns, customer service and wages than “low-road” competitors, such as Walmart or Spirit Airlines. </p>
<h2>The task ahead</h2>
<p>How can we encourage more companies to move in this direction? </p>
<p>As educators, we have an important role to play, but our efforts need to be matched by a well-coordinated effort that cuts across the federal government and business to realize the benefits of a high-road policy. One example is repairing America’s decaying infrastructure through public-private partnerships, which some business and labor leaders have <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/290262-rebuilding-americas-water-infrastructure-with-public-private-partnerships">already committed to</a>. </p>
<p>The same deal needs to be struck in implementing a new manufacturing policy. We are not likely to bring back many of the jobs lost to China and other lower-wage countries. The best way for government to help rebuild our manufacturing base is to support investments in <a href="https://www.manufacturing.gov/">next generation technologies</a>, such as light metals, photonics, robotics and wearable fibers that will generate energy and cool our bodies. But it’s also important to insist the businesses getting federal funding commit to making their products here and investing in their workforces. </p>
<p>So this Labor Day, I believe politicians need to go beyond the empty rhetoric of the past and commit to doing the hard work of recasting labor policy in ways it might be possible to enact. </p>
<p>And then they should follow up with the comprehensive and disciplined administrative actions needed to realize a high-road strategy that puts the economy on a course that will truly work for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64775/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Kochan has done some volunteer work for the Hillary Clinton campaign. </span></em></p>The link between labor’s decline and stagnating worker pay has convinced some politicians that we need to rebuild unions. What we need are new labor policies for tomorrow’s workforce.Thomas Kochan, Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of ManagementLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/576022016-04-12T14:39:19Z2016-04-12T14:39:19ZScottish schools shutdown: problems with PFI buildings could hit the rest of UK<p>Pupils and parents in Edinburgh are still digesting the <a href="http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/schoolclosures">news that</a> 17 schools have not reopened after the Easter break. It affects more than <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/11/call-safety-review-all-edinburgh-schools-after-closures-pfi-scotland">7,000 pupils</a>, many of whom were getting ready for national exams at the five secondary schools affected. It may cast a light on the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), a policy widely used around the UK in recent decades for constructing public buildings with private money. </p>
<p>The closures date back to Storm Gertrude earlier in the year, which <a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/education/oxgangs-primary-still-closed-due-to-storm-gertrude-damage-1-4017477">toppled</a> part of a wall at Oxgangs Primary in the city. During repair work at that one and another primary, contractors found serious defects. When Edinburgh Schools Partnership, the consortium that oversees the PFI schools, told the city council it could not guarantee the safety of any of the schools that were built around a decade ago as part of the same contract, the council decided to temporarily close them all. </p>
<p>City of Edinburgh Council is particularly sensitive to the safety of school buildings. A 12-year-old pupil <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-26834110">died</a> two years ago when a wall in a school changing room collapsed at the city’s Liberton High School (this was not one of the schools affected by the latest announcement). There are <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/calls-safety-review-scottish-pfi-7730631#QVp6qzmb6TmWbcUK.97">gathering calls</a> for a safety review of other PFI schemes in Scotland, and policymakers further south are no doubt watching anxiously. The question is how big these problems could become. Can we expect more closures across the country – PFI was used not only for schools but for hospitals, prisons, roads, bridges and much more. </p>
<h2>The UK picture</h2>
<p>The UK has been a major player in PFI since it was introduced in its current form in the 1990s by the Conservative government, before being renamed Public Private Partnerships (PPP) by the Labour government later that decade. Usually the model is that a local council contracts with a private company to design, build and finance a building and then maintain it for 25 years. The council pays an annual fee to cover these costs and is also responsible for all the teaching staff and teaching; and at the end of the contract it usually has ownership of the building.</p>
<p>By 2014 there were 671 operational PFIs in the UK. Their total capital value <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/387228/pfi_projects_2014_summary_data_final_15122014.pdf">was £56.6 billion</a> – that’s the aggregate financing costs in all the projects plus any public-sector capital contributions. These cost the public purse £10.3 billion in the year 2014-15 in services charges and debt payments. (I should add that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/387227/projects_in_procurement_as_at_31_March_2014.xlsx">while PFI continues</a> [pdf] in England, in Scotland the SNP government replaced it a few years ago with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2011/jun/07/scotland-privately-fund-public-projects">Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) contracts</a> – NPD uses a similar model but caps the profits that contractors are allowed to make.)</p>
<p>Although PFIs and NPDs should be more expensive than public financing, since government borrowing is usually cheaper than private, these schemes came with certain advantages. They used to mainly be “off balance sheet” – in other words, the cost of building the project was <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldselect/ldeconaf/63/63i.pdf">not added</a> to the public sector accounts. This meant a council could fund a new school without appearing to borrow much, a great way of making public accounts look healthier, particularly given the huge backlog of poorly maintained public infrastructure and schools in the 1990s to 2000s. </p>
<p>This benefit <a href="http://www.ifrs.org/current-projects/ifric-projects/ifric-12-service-concession-arrangements/Pages/ifric-12-service-concession-arrangements.aspx">was severely constrained</a> by new international accounting standards a few years ago, but there are arguably others. <a href="https://www2.unece.org/wiki/download/attachments/23758291/Treasury%20-%20PFI%20Strenghtening%20long%20term%20partnerships.pdf?api=v2">According to</a> the Treasury, PFIs can make it possible <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540960903492331#.VwukzbzSc0o">to provide</a> public services more efficiently and effectively. [You get](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CvSoCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT470&lpg=PT470&dq=McQuaid,+R.+(2010)+‘Theory+of+Organisational+Partnerships+–+partnership+advantages,+disadvantages+and+success+factors’,+in:+S.P.+Osborne+(ed.)+The+New+Public+Governance:+Emerging+perspectives+on+the+theory+and+practice+of+public+governance&source=bl&ots=QT676MsSGR&sig=qZBeZw0y8lnGYrtECmfsdPj_iAU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9l5jlpIbMAhWBxRQKHbsIAvsQ6AEILTAC#v=onepage&q=McQuaid%2C%20R.%20(2010)%20‘Theory%20of%20Organisational%20Partnerships%20–%20partnership%20advantages%2C%20disadvantages%20and%20success%20factors’%2C%20in%3A%20S.P.%20Osborne%20(ed.)%20The%20New%20Public%20Governance%3A%20Emerging%20perspectives%20on%20the%20theory%20and%20practice%20of%20public%20governance&f=false) access to the innovations that have been developed in the private sector; you develop more effective incentives for each party; and you spread risk more appropriately than in traditional public financing. This can in theory mean better value for money for the public sector despite the high premiums. </p>
<h2>Short-termism</h2>
<p>No doubt many PFIs provide good premises for important public services, but we have sometimes ended up with poorly executed schemes motivated more by short-term financial imperatives and not long-term quality or value for money. This <a href="http://www.allysonpollock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AP_2013_Pollock_PFILewisham.pdf">appears to include</a> many early schemes <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/0607149es.pdf">such as</a> the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301200720_%27The_Bridge_to_Skye_Scotland_-_PFI%27?ev=prf_pub">Skye bridge</a>, train leasing and many hospitals. </p>
<p>Lack of transparency is another <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/22/pfi-private-finance-refuse-debt">common criticism</a>, with schemes using grounds of commercial confidentiality to keep details hidden. And there have been PFI contracts where buildings may be structurally designed to last at least <a href="http://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/217736/0091011.pdf">50 years</a>, but the contractor has only used fittings that would last for the duration of the 25-year contract. This can reduce the quality and mean major expenses for the authority after the contract has ended. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118188/original/image-20160411-21956-1dpkpso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118188/original/image-20160411-21956-1dpkpso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118188/original/image-20160411-21956-1dpkpso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118188/original/image-20160411-21956-1dpkpso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118188/original/image-20160411-21956-1dpkpso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118188/original/image-20160411-21956-1dpkpso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118188/original/image-20160411-21956-1dpkpso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118188/original/image-20160411-21956-1dpkpso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Skye bridge was an early PFI contract.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/16993804@N08/2212953607/in/photolist-4nxY1x-ePofZj-ePohMW-9jUniC-bwtxaQ-9RPdPR-9RPetB-8DA2He-7Td7Ls-8DDhxE-rpWWmw-7Td7Lw-a2iWRV-divvur-wVVWUB-hz4PSY-6HVViS-hz6px8-a72wJk-5k5aBk-iRAPTn-xLjU2W-rFBsyo-zJnPic-poYvbK-pkSz71-pFaKWn-CEtja-3hPnuN-9XGWFe-4AyUFM-5nSTiV-7Y2yF7-7XY6m8-9wVC1c-fbbPpB-4Zyc7h-4MevC-nKBeo6-nssfrZ-eRZrmn-nHfEvH-4Z5bZZ-7y6K3f-rt5bp-58iZ3A-fStQ7g-bWsemt-4T15eQ-b3EpEv">Design Ag</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So what of Edinburgh? Surveys are being carried out on all 17 schools and everyone is waiting to hear the outcome – several more of the schools <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/apr/11/serious-defects-two-more-edinburgh-schools-built-using-pfi">are showing</a> serious defects while others <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-36017531">are expected</a> to reopen in the coming days. Edinburgh Schools Partnership <a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/edinburgh-school-crisis-consortium-facing-million-pound-penalty-1-4096273">has called</a> the standard of construction “completely unacceptable”. <a href="https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/edinburgh-pfi-schools-crisis-%E2%80%93-private-consortium-will-foot-bill">It is</a> footing the bill for investigating and resolving the issues, while Galliford Try, whose Miller Construction subsidiary was the original building contractor, <a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/edinburgh-school-crisis-consortium-facing-million-pound-penalty-1-4096273">said</a> it supports the closures ahead of more information becoming available. </p>
<p>There is much that remains unclear – not least whether the problem is poor workmanship or choice of construction materials or inadequate building control standards. A key question may be whether the buildings were designed adequately and for the level of wind that caused the structural problems at Oxgangs. </p>
<p>The council and the PFI consortium do seem to have taken the right short-term decisions to be open about the issue and about who is responsible, and to focus on providing alternatives for the pupils. What still needs to be considered will be the long-term implications for both construction standards and PFIs – both in Edinburgh and across the UK. Perhaps the inevitable inquiry will also help lead to a rethink on whether short-term cost savings are really a sensible way to build for the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57602/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronald McQuaid is currently writing a paper on PFI for the Asian Development Bank Institute. The views expressed in this piece are entirely his own. </span></em></p>The Private Finance Initiative was meant to be the solution to 21st century public buildings. Edinburgh’s school problems are far from unique, however.Ronald McQuaid, Professor of Work and Employment , University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.