Output specifications for PPP projects : lessons from case studies

Abstract

Output specifications convey the client's requirements on physical assets and services during their operation. A well written set of output specification can induce innovation, bring about increased efficiency and effect appropriate risk transfer from the public to the private sector in PPP projects. It stipulates what is required from a PPP project in terms of outputs rather than inputs; it states what performance standards are expected to be achieved, the monitoring mechanism and provides links to the payment mechanism. Drafting a clear and concise output specification is always a challenge especially for countries not using standard documents for procuring PPP projects. In this paper, case studies in three different PPPIPFI projects located in Hong Kong, the UK and Singapore are presented for comparing similarities and differences. The aim of this paper is twofold, firstly to examine the issues in drafting output specifications in three different types of PPP projects. Secondly, lessons are drawn from these projects for improving the efficacy of output specifications.