ALTERNATIVE FINANCING

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is a public-private partnership (P3)?
  2. Why is this government considering P3s?
  3. What is SaskBuilds and its role?
  4. What projects does SaskBuilds get involved with?
  5. How do you get value for money through a P3?
  6. What is the purpose of a value for money report?
  7. How can the public be assured negotiated agreements are done fairly and in an open process?
  8. How does SaskBuilds ensure openness and transparency?
  9. Why consider private financing when governments can borrow money at a cheaper rate than private companies?
  10. How do Saskatchewan businesses benefit from P3s?

What is a public-private partnership or P3?

  • A P3 is a long-term performance-based agreement between government and business to deliver public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools and health care facilities.
  • Partnerships bring the strength of the public and private sector together.
  • The public sector maintains accountability for each project through a performance-based agreement to ensure high-quality standards are adhered to throughout the life of the agreement;
  • The private sector is better able to manage certain risks and so the private partner manages the infrastructure to ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and to specific performance standards.

Why is this government making P3s a priority?

  • On its own, the Province can’t make all the necessary improvements to public infrastructure in a timely manner that will support growth and an improved quality of life for residents.  
  • The Province has stated its intention to find more innovative approaches to the provision of services and infrastructure in support of health care, transportation and other priority programs such as schools.
  • SaskBuilds is pursuing partnerships that deliver major infrastructureprojects to meet public needs while transferring risk and saving money over projects delivered traditionally by government.

How do you get value for money through a P3?

  • The partnership model is based on a performance-based agreement—the public sector sets high quality standards that the private partner is required to meet.
  • The partnership model delivers greater accountability due to a long-term, performance-based agreement. If the private partner does not meet the performance standards specified in the agreement, they don’t get paid.
  • The partnership model allows private sector innovation and efficiency in all phases of the project. These result in a cost savings over projects delivered traditionally and high quality infrastructure for taxpayers.
  • While P3s in Saskatchewan are new, there are many examples of how these partnerships have resulted in innovative solutions to improve the delivery of services in other provinces.
  • A Conference Board of Canada study report compared the costs of P3s and conventional agreements and determined that Canadian P3s initiated from 2004 onwards have delivered important efficiency gains for taxpayers, ranging from a few million dollars to over $750 million per project.
What kinds of projects does SaskBuilds get involved with?

SaskBuilds will work with ministries and, where relevant, their major third party delivery entities (e.g., school divisions and regional health authorities) to analyze the size, scope and complexity of a project to determine whether it can best be delivered through a partnership model.

The project team examines the opportunities for innovation; the potential for transferring risks, such as construction cost and schedule; and the potential for performance-based agreements.

When government decides that a partnership model is the best choice for a large scale project, SaskBuilds will oversee construction and successful transition to the operations phase.

What is SaskBuilds’ role on projects?

SaskBuilds brings together ministries, agencies and the private sector to develop and implement major infrastructure projects based on the ministries’ previously identified program needs. SaskBuilds will assist ministries and agencies with the upfront due diligence to recommend the best procurement model for delivering a project and management of the competitive procurement process.  This includes writing and issuing requests for qualifications and requests for proposals, facilitation of fair evaluation of proposals, and final negotiations to reach an agreement that meets the project objectives and delivers the best value to Saskatchewan’s taxpayers.

SaskBuilds will host business-to-business networking events for projects to give local businesses an opportunity to meet and explore partnership opportunities with the shortlisted bid teams early in the process.

How does SaskBuilds ensure openness and transparency?

Procurement documents for P3 projects will be posted publicly, including reports from the expert independent Fairness Advisors, the final project agreement with the private partner (with commercially confidential information removed), and a value for money report that summarizes the results of the competitive procurement process at the end of procurement.

What is the purpose of a value for money report?

The report, released once the procurement process is complete, fulfills a commitment to openness and transparency and explains the competitive process undertaken to select the private sector team that will deliver the project, and how value for money is expected to be achieved. The report identifies the partner, describes the benefits and innovations of the project, the rationale, objectives and processes that led to the use of the partnership delivery model and the value for money expected to be achieved over the life of the project agreement.

How can the public be assured agreements negotiated with the private sector are done fairly and in an open process?

A Fairness Advisor is appointed to monitor the entire procurement process. The Fairness Adviser is provided full access to all documents and information related to the evaluation process under the competitive selection process and is kept fully informed by the authority of all documents and activities associated with that process. The Fairness Advisor also attends key meetings with proponents during the procurement process. The Fairness Adviser monitors the procurement process and ensures it is undertaken fairly and follows the requirements outlined in the Request for Proposals.

The Fairness Advisor will issue two reports: one at the completion of the Request for Qualifications (RFP) phase is complete and the second after the Request for Proposals (RFP) phase is complete. These reports will be publicly available on SaskBuilds’ website.Additionally, a Conflict of Interest Adjudicator is appointed by the authority to provide opinions on conflicts of interest or unfair advantage issues. A Conflict of Interest Adjudicator is retained throughout the entire competitive selection process.

Why consider private financing when governments can borrow money at a cheaper rate than private companies?

Private sector financing is one element of the lifecycle costs of a P3 project.P3 projects in Canada have delivered value for money, which means the benefits to using the partnership model outweigh the higher financing (and other) costs. The benefits of a P3 Design Build Finance and Maintain (DBFM) include:
  • Transfer of project risks – for example the private partner is responsible for delivering the project on-time and on-budget regardless of the weather, construction inflation, labour availability, materials etc.;
  • Value through design innovations;
  • Performance-based agreements with penalties for poor performance;
  • Guaranteed maintenance over the life of the project;
  • Private sector efficiency; and
  • Expected financial and qualitative benefits for taxpayers.
How do Saskatchewan businesses benefit from P3s?

P3s help generate more jobs and opportunity because governments are able to initiate more concurrent infrastructure projects – including ones that may otherwise have taken years to begin because of their sizable costs. 

More infrastructure projects underway means there is potential for thousands of job opportunities for workers and opportunities for local businesses. Many consortiums in a P3 project will look locally for the expertise and skills they need in design, construction and other services.  
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SaskBuilds will host business-to-business networking events for projects to give local businesses an opportunity to meet and explore partnership opportunities with the shortlisted bid teams early in the process. Other Canadian jurisdictions report that the contracted private sector partners consistently subcontract with local trades and employ local workers.