Report to Congress on the Costs, Benefits, and Efficiencies
of Public-Private Partnerships for Fixed Guideway Capital Projects
PDF 
This report responds to a SAFETEA-LU requirement and is intended
to identify and examine the costs, benefits, and efficiencies
of applying P3 delivery approaches to transit projects.
FTA Private Sector Participation Webpage
Website
Under Section 5315 of the U.S. Code and MAP-21, FTA encourages the consideration of the private sector in the development and implementation of transportation improvements. The FTA webpage on Private Sector Participation provides information on current authorization, background information and projects, and additional resources.
Highway Public-Private Partnerships: More Rigorous Up-front Analysis Could
Better Secure Potential Benefits and Protect the Public Interest
PDF
In producing this report, GAO was asked to review: (1) the
benefits, costs, and trade-offs of public-private partnerships; (2) how public
officials have identified and acted to protect the public interest in these
arrangements; and (3) the federal role in public-private partnerships and
potential changes in this role. As input into the study, GAO reviewed federal
legislation, interviewed federal, state, and other officials, and reviewed
the experience of Australia, Canada, and Spain. GAO's work focused on highway-related
P3s and did not review all forms of public-private partnerships. GAO recommends
that Congress consider directing the Secretary of Transportation,
in consultation with Congress and other stakeholders, to develop objective
criteria for identifying potential national public interests in highway P3s.
Using Public-Private Partnerships to Carry Out Highway Projects
Website
This Congressional Budget Office study was prepared at the request of the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and focuses on the following questions: (1) What are public-private partnerships and how often are they used? (2) Does private financing increase the resources available to build, operate, and maintain roads? (3) Do public-private partnerships build roads more quickly or at a lower cost? The report finds that private financing will increase the availability of funds for highway construction only in cases in which states or localities have chosen to restrict their spending by imposing legal constraints or budgetary limits on themselves. The reason is that revenues from the users of roads and from taxpayers are the ultimate source of money for highways, regardless of the financing mechanism chosen. On the basis of evidence from a small number of studies, such partnerships have built highways slightly less expensively and slightly more quickly, compared with the traditional public-sector approach.
