Over the past 30 years, there has been a marked proliferation of the use of public–private partnerships (P3s) for the management of agricultural innovation systems. This is part of a larger worldwide trend of using P3s in the provision of public goods and services. Despite the large number of agricultural P3s in operation, a literature review demonstrated paucity of both case studies and of theory, meaning that the study of these emerging business models has not kept pace with practice. Over the last 30 years, only 38 peer-reviewed articles have been published. The objective of this dissertation is to advance the theory, analysis, and policy review of agricultural P3s. There are four independent investigations in this dissertation that advance the knowledge of agricultural P3s in seven specific ways. First, these investigations introduce two quantitative methodologies to empirically demonstrate the critical role P3s occupy in research and development (R&D) innovation networks and in the development, dissemination and commercialization of new technologies that enhance global food security. Second, this analysis suggests that the key variable influencing the formation of these organizations is people, rather than public policy or market incentives. Third, agricultural P3s require large up-front investments and they have extended gestation periods; therefore, they are dependent upon public support. Fourth, P3s are not a means of privatizing public functions; rather, they represent a new and emerging process of collaboration that transcends the public–private dichotomy. Fifth, agricultural P3s appear to operate in “orphan spaces,” sectors that, for a variety of reasons, are ignored by the public and private sectors. Sixth, there is evidence to suggest that many P3s require the services of P3 experts of which there is a shortage, particularly in the developing world. Seventh, each agricultural P3 is novel because each is the result of sector-specific challenges and has a structure that is dependent upon the types and number of partners and their objectives, limiting the ability to transfer explicit lessons from existing models to new P3s.

Sweeping public sector reforms have occurred globally in recent decades. One of the more high profile and contentious strategies pursued in jurisdictions such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and more recently Canada is the radical shift to public-private infrastructure partnerships - commonly referred to in Canada as ‘P3s’. The Government of British Columbia (BC) has emerged as the leading proponent of the P3 model in Canada. The strategic shift in BC to the P3 model was introduced in 2002 by the governing Liberal party. The Liberals created Partnerships BC to spearhead the P3 program, and singled out the healthcare sector to move forward the P3 agenda. The dynamics of delivering a complex and unfamiliar business model like P3s through this new public agency, combined with the unique ecology of the healthcare system, added to the complexity of delivering a central government mandated strategic policy priority like a P3-first agenda, making for a robust case study. Focusing on the issue of public sector capacity to implement policy, this study examines how BC has transitioned from traditional procurement and operation of public infrastructure such as hospitals to the wide-spread use of P3s. The study asks questions about three independent variables of capacity related to implementation of P3 and other cross-cutting programs: governance and oversight; human resources; and, inter-agency collaboration within the public sector. Drawn from an extensive review of scholarly studies and literature, and government and consultant reports examining actual infrastructure P3 experiences and exemplary practices, these variables formed the basis of the study’s analytical model. The study employed the following multi-method (triangulation) research and data collection approach: i) an archival review of text-based government documents; ii) interviews with key public employees either directly or indirectly involved in P3 program implementation; and, iii) field observations of the principal researcher based on first-hand experiences as a senior manager in the BC government during this period. Based on the analytical model developed, the study reveals a capacity deficit in BC to adequately plan and implement a comprehensive P3 program. Based on the literature, the model establishes that central agencies play a critical role in an effective P3 policy program. So what is most noteworthy is the lack of resources and attention given to developing central agency capacity to: advance sound P3 policies; ensure ongoing program oversight and accountability; and, provide necessary guidance and support to agencies tasked with implementing very complex P3 arrangements in a multi-agency domain. For practitioners, the study validates key elements of capacity to be considered when planning and implementing major shifts in public policy. The literature review and the study’s findings also have relevance for the public administration profession through the development of the analytical framework and its application to an important contemporary public policy area. As a contribution to scholarly and academic research, this paper tests the validity and reliability of the analytical model developed and the overall methodology used, and identifies significant areas that merit further study related to the broader phenomenon of P3s and public sector capacity. / Graduate / 0617 Public Administration / mauricer@uvic.ca

MBA Professional Report / Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / The purpose of this research is to study the federal government's historical use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and their view on the issue. Then we study recent applications (case studies) of innovative financing arrangements by Hannon Armstrong, LLC, an Annapolis, Maryland based financial services firm. The intention is to build upon previous Naval Postgraduate School research efforts is this subject; specifically, expanding upon the efforts of Professor San Miguel, Shank and Summers by investigating current examples of PPPs. First, we examine Hannon Armstrong's "fee for service contract" solution to the lack of appropriated capital funds needed for a vital fiber-optic link near the Arctic Circle. Then, we will explore the history of the Energy Saving Performance Contracts (ESPCs), which have been a useful tool in reducing the energy consumption throughout the federal government. Historically, this program has only been used for fixed assets. There is little debate over the success of these contracts in reducing energy consumption. The authors believe that applying Energy Saving Performance Contracts to mobile assets could further reduce the energy consumption of the Department of Defense (DoD) and save tax-payers millions of dollars.

In a period of apparent new economic, political, social and cultural configurations in Western cities, a general diminution of belief in the ability of local government itself to affect significant policy change in response to the global restructuring of the economy has facilitated the emergence of new forms of urban governance in the post or neo-Fordist era, often following American models. Despite the fact that there are some differences in the interpretations of which new forms of urban governance are emerging, there appears to be a general recognition of the need for policy solutions represented by the development of partnerships and coalitions of interests ('regimes') in urban contexts, involving not only local authorities but also a range of private and semi-public actors. The rise of the entrepreneurial model among city governments also forms part of the socalled new urban politics of the post-Fordist era. Similarly, it is commonly argued that there is a growing inter-urban competition between cities for prominence as centres of consumption as one means to replace those traditional urban industrial activities which have gone into decline. This 'post-modern' strategy, including the use of a wide range of prestigious urban projects in areas of consumption such as sports, culture and leisure, has recently become commonplace in the restructuring of many Western cities. In Britain and Spain as elsewhere, some cities are using sport and leisure to drive the regeneration of their cities. Focusing on two European cities subject to large-scale deindustrialisation, Bilbao (Spain) and Sheffield (Great Britain), this thesis applies an urban regime analysis to evaluate the emergence and operation of public-private partnerships in a process of urban regeneration. This comparative study of urban politics also examines the role of sport and leisure in urban regime or coalition construction and the role of urban regimes or coalitions in the development of a sports strategy in the case of Sheffield and a cultural strategy in the case of Bilbao. Following an introductory chapter, the second chapter examines new practices and forms of urban governance, using traditional and 'new wave' urban theories, in particular the formation and operation of urban regimes and their implication for sports policy changes. The contribution of this thesis is to examine the applicability and validity of American models of urban change to the analysis of two different Western European cities that may help to understand how contemporary cities respond to contemporary urban problems. In addition, this thesis expects to expand the analysis of the role of sport in urban regime construction and the role of urban regimes in the development of sports or cultural strategies. The choice of regime theory has implications for both methodology and the subsequent interpretation of events. Thus, the third chapter addresses the general description of the ontological, epistemological and methodological assumptions underpinning regime theory. The fourth and fifth chapters review how urban planning and sport policies have evolved in Spain since the Spanish Civil War and in Britain since the World War II. This provides a context to the core of the thesis, which evaluate urban regime formation and operation and their implications in the development of sports strategies in Bilbao and Sheffield. The concluding chapter seeks to summarise the findings of the empirical research and relates the examples of Bilbao and Sheffield coalitions or urban regimes for economic regeneration to the nature and characterisation of contemporary urban and sports politics.

This thesis investigates the accounting and other practices performed as part of trials experienced by interested actors in forming a Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. Prompted by the high visibility of PPP schemes and a lack of understanding about the situated roles and effects of accounting and other practices in motivating and appraising such schemes, two practice-oriented research problems are investigated. Firstly, how does an ambition for a PPP scheme form in particular times and places. Secondly, what is the agency of accounting and other appraisal processes in trialling a proposed PPP scheme. Following an introductory section, this thesis proceeds via three papers. The first paper reviews the extant accounting-related literature on PPP schemes along five research themes adapted from Broadbent & Laughlin (1999, 2004), highlighting the literary contributions and future research opportunities in this area. The second and third papers focus on the experiences of interested actors in trialling possibilities for a public housing PPP in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), using field-based research. The aim of the second paper is to understand how an ambition for a PPP can become accepted through efforts to ??envisage value?? for such schemes in particular times and places. The third paper investigates the roles and effects of accounting and other appraisal practices mobilised to translate an ambition for a PPP scheme into an agreement that promises a ??Value for Money?? (VFM) outcome. Collectively, these papers contribute to extant knowledge about the involvement of accounting and other practices in the performance of ??value?? in PPP schemes by: (i) illustrating how an ambition for a PPP scheme forms through ??envisaging value??; (ii) explicating the agency of accounting and other practices in conferring VFM with situated meaning; (iii) contradicting the dominant status attributed to the involvement of accounting calculations in PPP schemes; and (iv) highlighting the various ways in which interested actors can cope with and act in the face of significant uncertainties. Overall, these contributions further our understanding of how proposed PPP schemes are (per)formed through the complex of activities (including accounting) and interests tied to the achievement of such schemes.

This thesis examines the financing and construction arrangements of the recently designed Airport Link project in Brisbane, Australia. The central hypothesis of the thesis is that the equity risk premium, combined with the public nature of toll roads, makes private financing of this kind of public infrastructure undesirable. It attempts to test this hypothesis by valuing the project under standard CAPM and WACC frameworks, and then modelling the sensitivity of the project’s value to different assumptions regarding traffic flows, inflation, asset risk, and errors in operating-cost forecasts. The results show that with large equity contributions the project is inherently unstable and given the finance structure, was always susceptible to a downward price spiral of the type observed. The thesis then models the project value under a public finance option and concludes that this is a more beneficial option for investors, the government, and the community alike.

This thesis examines the financing and construction arrangements of the recently designed Airport Link project in Brisbane, Australia. The central hypothesis of the thesis is that the equity risk premium, combined with the public nature of toll roads, makes private financing of this kind of public infrastructure undesirable. It attempts to test this hypothesis by valuing the project under standard CAPM and WACC frameworks, and then modelling the sensitivity of the project’s value to different assumptions regarding traffic flows, inflation, asset risk, and errors in operating-cost forecasts. The results show that with large equity contributions the project is inherently unstable and given the finance structure, was always susceptible to a downward price spiral of the type observed. The thesis then models the project value under a public finance option and concludes that this is a more beneficial option for investors, the government, and the community alike.

Le contrat de partenariat permet aux collectivités de confier globalement à un opérateur économique aussi bien le financement d'ouvrages ou d'équipements que leur conception, leur construction, leur exploitation ou encore la gestion de services publics, en s'abstenant d'être maîtres d'ouvrage et en rémunérant l'opérateur par des paiements échelonnés tout au long de la durée du contrat. L'analyse approfondie de ce montage contractuel, notamment appliqué aux secteurs ferroviaires et routiers, permet-elle réellement de conclure à l'amorce d'une modernisation du droit des contrats de la commande publique ? Rien n'est moins sûr. En effet, selon l'aspect considéré, il apparaît que le contrat de partenariat a, malgré les espoirs qu'il a vu naitre à cette fin, bien du mal à s'imposer comme la clef de voûte d'une véritable modernisation du droit des contrats de la commande publique. Démontrer que le contrat de partenariat a à la fois échoué et en partie, au moins, amorcé ce renouveau implique l'examen des trois aspects fondamentaux de la vie des contrats de la commande publique que sont leur passation, leur financement et leur exécution. Cet essai fait apparaître que si le contrat de partenariat n'a pas créé une véritable révolution du droit de la commande publique, il a néanmoins posé les bases d'une modernisation désormais en cours, tant en matière de financement que d'exécution. / Public private partnerships allows public and local authorities to entrust an conomic operator both with regard to the financing structures and equipment that their design, construction, operation or management of public services, failing to be owners and by paying the operator of milestone payments to be made during the term of the contract. Is this major analysis of this contractual structuring, particularly applied to rail and road sectors to conclude for the beginning of a modernization of law more precisely the contract for public purchasing ? This does not seem likely. In fact, depending on this aspect, it appears that public private partnerships, despite many hopes, has some difficulty in imposing like the cornerstone of the modernization of the law contract for public procurement. This revival has examined three fundamental aspects like procurement, financing and execution. This essay determined that if the public private partnership did not create a revolution, it nevertheless laid the foundation for modernization now underway, both in terms of funding and execution.

Le droit des contrats publics a subi, depuis une trentaine d'années, une évolution sans précédent, en particulier dans le cadre des contrats administratifs. La multiplication des textes encadrant la pratique des contrats, dans le droit national et dans le droit de l'Union européenne, tend à présenter des notions et des régimes hétérogènes et désordonnés. Or, analysés à travers le prisme du financement, les contrats publics trouvent une cohérence, d'une part, et retrouvent leur essence, d'autre part. Le financement permet de comprendre les dynamiques économiques à l'œuvre dans le droit des contrats publics. Il s'agit dès lors d'observer les différentes techniques et modalités de financement complexes à l'œuvre dans les contrats publics pour arriver à la conclusion que les contrats publics s'en trouvent enrichis. Par ailleurs, le financement constitue le critère idoine pour structurer les contrats publics dans une dichotomie achat-public concession.Toutefois, l’interaction entre les deux notions ne se limite pas à une approche unilatérale. Les contrats publics permettent effet de saisir le financement. Il apparaît que le financement institutionnel, reposant sur les ressources fiscales et les emprunts contractés par l'Administration, ne répond que de manière insuffisante aux besoins d'intérêt général. C'est pourquoi le recours au contrat public est indispensable pour libérer le financement public, ce qui a pour effet de métamorphoser les contrats publics, au point d'être mis en mesure d'en dégager une théorisation. / The law of public contracts underwent, since around thirty years, an unprecedented evolution, in particular within the framework of public service contracts. The increase of texts framing the practice of contracts, in the national law and in the law of the European Union, tends to present notions and heterogeneous and muddled systems. Now, analyzed through the prism of the financing, the public contracts find a coherence, on one hand, and find their sens, on the other hand.The financing allows to understand the economic dynamics in the work in the law of public contracts. It is a question from then on of observing the various techniques and the complex financing terms in the work in the public contracts to arrive at the conclusion that the public contracts are enriched there. Besides, the financing establishes the appropriate criterion to structure the public contracts in a dichotomy public purchase – concession. However, the interaction between both notions does not limit itself to a unilateral approach. The public contracts allow effect to seize the financing. It seems that the institutional financing, resting on the fiscal resources and the loans contracted by the Administration, answers only in a insufficient way the needs for general interest. That is why the appeal to the public contract is essential to release the public financing, what has the effect of transforming the public contracts, in the point of being enabled to clear a theorization of it.

A pesquisa desenvolvida tem como eixo central a problematização de dispositivos concernentes aos novos contornos que a educação escolar vem assumindo no processo de mediação entre o Terceiro Setor e o Estado. O estudo refere-se às parcerias público-privadas (PPP) na área educacional, desenvolvidas por duas organizações do Terceiro Setor, uma, no estado de Minas Gerais e outra, no estado de São Paulo. Foram analisados um programa desenvolvido pela Fundação Lemann (S.P) e dois programas desenvolvidos em Minas Gerais pelo Instituto Delta, braço social do Grupo Empresarial Delta. Este trabalho teve como objetivos: apreender a estrutura e funcionamento dessas ações e seus impactos na educação; identificar as fontes de recursos para subsidiar tais ações, mas, sobretudo, apreender o conteúdo e o teor das propostas da iniciativa privada e sua instalação na gestão da escola pública. A proposta metodológica desta investigação foi norteada pela abordagem das pesquisas qualitativas. A matriz epistemológica adotada ancorou-se no materialismo histórico-dialético. O procedimento utilizado foi o estudo multicasos ou casos múltiplos com o objetivo de realizar uma análise pertinente de projetos viabilizados pelas PPPs, nos dois estados, sem comprometer as singularidades e similaridades de cada realidade. A investigação demonstrou que as ações desenvolvidas pelas entidades do Terceiro Setor não resolvem a crise que se apresenta atualmente, mas, sim, são responsáveis por acentuá-la, já que colaboram para a manutenção da sociedade de classes. Espera-se que esta pesquisa possa contribuir para potencializar o debate acerca dos novos contornos do papel do estado e da educação no tempo presente. / The main topic of the research developed is the problematization of devices regarding the new characteristics that education has taken in the process of mediation between the third sector and the state. This thesis refers to public-private partnerships (PPP) in education, developed by two organizations from the third sector, one in the state of Minas Gerais and one in the state of São Paulo. We analyzed a program developed by Fundação Lemann\" (SP) and two programs developed in Minas Gerais by Instituto Delta, the social branch of Grupo Empresarial Delta. This research aimed at understanding the structure and functioning of these actions and their impact on education; identifying the sources of funds to support such actions, but above all, comprehending the content and substance of the proposals made by the private institutions and their application in public schools. The methodology of this research was guided by the qualitative research approach. The epistemology adopted is anchored in the historical and dialectical materialism. The procedure used was the multi-case or multiple cases study in order to conduct a meaningful analysis of projects made possible by PPPs in both states, without compromising the uniqueness and similarities of each reality. The research has shown that the actions undertaken by the third sector do not solve the \"crisis\" that presents itself today, but are responsible for accentuating it, as the actions contribute to the maintenance of class society. It is expected that this research will contribute to enhance the debate on the new characteristics of the states and educations role at the present time.