The performance of public–private partnerships: An evaluation of 15 years DBFM in Dutch infrastructure governance

Joop Koppenjan; Erik Hans Klijn; S (Stefan) Verweij; Michael Duijn; Ingmar van Meerkerk; Samantha Metselaar; Rianne Warsen

doi:10.1080/15309576.2022.2062399

The performance of public–private partnerships: An evaluation of 15 years DBFM in Dutch infrastructure governance

Joop Koppenjan, Erik Hans Klijn, S (Stefan) Verweij, Michael Duijn, Ingmar van Meerkerk, Samantha Metselaar, Rianne Warsen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article presents an ex-post evaluation of the performance of Dutch Design-Build-Finance-Maintain (DBFM) infrastructure projects compared to Design and Construct (D&C) contracts, which uses quantitative (financial project data and survey) and qualitative (interviews) data. Drawing on institutional theory, notably the economic institutionalism inspired-contractual perspective and the sociological institutionalism-oriented collaborative perspective, the evaluation focuses on four performance indicators—cost, time, quality, and innovation—and five public–private partnership (PPP) performance drivers—private financing, performance-dependent payments, bundling (i.e., the integrated nature of contracts), risk transfer, and collaboration. It was found that the DBFM projects performed similarly to, or better than, the D&C contracts. The impact of bundling on innovation was positive, while its impact on quality was inconclusive. The collaboration proved to be a strong driver for performance and innovation but was not stronger in DBFM projects compared to D&C projects. Over time, collaboration and performance improved suggesting that besides project characteristics, PPP performance is influenced by the way actors deal with contracts and by the gradual process by which they learn to do so. Theoretically, this means that historical institutionalism is part of the explanation of PPP performance.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	998-1028
Number of pages	31
Journal	Public Performance & Management Review
Volume	45
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2022.2062399
Publication status	Published - 25 Apr 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The evaluation presented in this article was commissioned by Rijkswaterstaat—the executive agency of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management—and Bouwend Nederland—the Dutch association of construction and infrastructure companies.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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Cite this

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title = "The performance of public–private partnerships: An evaluation of 15 years DBFM in Dutch infrastructure governance",

abstract = "This article presents an ex-post evaluation of the performance of Dutch Design-Build-Finance-Maintain (DBFM) infrastructure projects compared to Design and Construct (D&C) contracts, which uses quantitative (financial project data and survey) and qualitative (interviews) data. Drawing on institutional theory, notably the economic institutionalism inspired-contractual perspective and the sociological institutionalism-oriented collaborative perspective, the evaluation focuses on four performance indicators—cost, time, quality, and innovation—and five public–private partnership (PPP) performance drivers—private financing, performance-dependent payments, bundling (i.e., the integrated nature of contracts), risk transfer, and collaboration. It was found that the DBFM projects performed similarly to, or better than, the D&C contracts. The impact of bundling on innovation was positive, while its impact on quality was inconclusive. The collaboration proved to be a strong driver for performance and innovation but was not stronger in DBFM projects compared to D&C projects. Over time, collaboration and performance improved suggesting that besides project characteristics, PPP performance is influenced by the way actors deal with contracts and by the gradual process by which they learn to do so. Theoretically, this means that historical institutionalism is part of the explanation of PPP performance.",

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AU - van Meerkerk, Ingmar

AU - Metselaar, Samantha

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The performance of public–private partnerships: An evaluation of 15 years DBFM in Dutch infrastructure governance

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