Stanford
Global Projects Center

P3 Flips

The Global Projects Center P3 FLIPS Program

The P3 FLIPS Program is a new Stanford GPC research initiative on public sector best practices for infrastructure delivery via Public-Private Partnerships

P3 FLIPS (Public-Private Partnership Financial Literacy in the Public Sector) research program is an effort to conduct research on the complex role that the public sector plays in adjudicating the disparate interests of all P3 stakeholders.  P3 financial literacy in the public sector is critical in reaching a balanced P3 deal structure, allocating risk appropriately,  and properly incentivizing private sector partners.  The Program is intended to focus primarily on the U.S. P3 market (and, case by case basis, select emerging issues in the global P3 market) and to provide an objective venue to bring forward the best practices from three decades of P3 experiences worldwide. 

The Research Agenda for P3 FLIPS was developed based on substantive discussions with P3 industry leaders in both the public and private sector on the areas of the P3 industry lacking in academic research.   As necessary, this agenda will be further refined and/or expanded as the Program matures.

RESEARCH AGENDA

  1. Empirically-Based P3 Report Card for the U.S. Market based on comprehensive analyses  of the true merits of P3 as a viable infrastructure delivery method using empirical data collected from the U.S. P3 projects to date.  A set of specific assessment criteria will be developed and a comprehensive review of empirically-based P3 assessments in other countries, in particular, U.K. and Australia, will be conducted.

  2. Enhancement of Value for Money (VfM) Method to turn it into a true P3 decision support tool.  This research will help develop clearer VfM guidelines for the U.S. P3 market and address, among others, common misuse of Capital Asset Pricing Model as it relates to discount rate assumptions, treatment of tax-exemption financing and other tax-related funds, and consideration for non-financial and larger policy issues, such as accelerated delivery, innovations, cost-reflective pricing, transparency, etc.

  3. Innovations in P3 Procurement Strategies and Deal Structures by assessing the applicability of global best P3 procurement practices in the U.S.  This research will help develop a set of balanced incentive structures and optimum risk allocation formulae to minimize non-productive transaction costs and to help address both the infrastructure funding and financing problems.

  4. New Analytical Framework to Deal with Demand Forecasting and Reliability  by considering solutions both in terms of procurement options with less reliance on forecast accuracy and of new analytical approaches to better assess the impact of forecast inaccuracies, including a robust decision-making approach.

  5. Developing Approach to Political Feasibility Analysis that is as formal and rigorous as financial and legal feasibility.  Among others, this research aims to better understand the real cost of political risks and to develop practical political risk metrics that can be informative to both private investors and public sponsors.

  6. Guidelines in Effective P3 Capacity Building that is integrated both functionally and across multiple sectors and jurisdictions, including P3 policies, enabling legislations, institutions, procedures and guidelines.  In particular, the research will focus on institutional capacity building, taking into consideration specific organizational structure, functional scope, capability, affiliation, staffing, sources of funding, interagency interfaces, etc., and on developing practical metrics to measure the overall effectiveness of these institutions.

  7. Understanding the Shift from “No-Paying” to “User-Paying” Culture to achieve a proper balance between taxes vs. user fees and to make infrastructure funding more sustainable in the long run.  Among others, this research will study the “willingness to pay” aspects of real world examples where successful transition from no-paying to user-paying culture was made, including power/energy utility sector, cable TV industry, and transportation in states where tolls are gradually becoming an accepted norm.

Steering Committee

As with our other research programs, the GPC staff is currently forming a steering committee to guide our research under the P3 FLIPS program. The committee will include key leaders and industry practitioners from the public and private sector to provide feedback and guidance on the program. Details on the committee will be posted when the group is formed. 

Program Oversight

Dr. Julie Kim 

P3 FLIPS Program Director

Dr. M. Julie Kim has over 25 years of experience in major infrastructure development projects in the U.S. and Asia, with a focus on transportation sector and large-scale real property developments.  She is a founder and CEO of BeneTellus, a consultancy specializing in P3 and infrastructure financing.  Julie was also Director of Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Program at RAND Corporation.  Prior to RAND, she was a senior executive with AECOM and Dames Moore Group (now URS Corporation), where her experience encompassed all phases of infrastructure development process from initial planning through design, construction, operations, and maintenance.  Julie was the founding executive director of Collaboratory for Research in Global Projects (CRGP), a predecessor to GPC.  Julie holds B.S. in Civil Engineering from M.I.T. and M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University. 

Michael Bennon 

Managing Director of the Stanford Global Projects Center

Michael Bennon is the Managing Director at the Stanford Global Projects Center. He is developing new initiatives for the GPC and managing our student programs and industry affiliations. Michael’s research areas of interest for the center and work experience are in Public Sector finance, infrastructure and real estate investment, and project organization design. Michael served as a Captain in the US Army and US Army Corps of Engineers for five years, leading Engineer units, managing projects, and planning for infrastructure development in the United States, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Thailand.  Michael received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and received an MSCE and MBA from Stanford University.