Issue link: http://digital.corporatepress.com/i/445610
Facilities Manager | january/february 2015 | 27 P ublic-private partnerships are increasingly popular as a funding tool for infrastructure projects on academic campuses. PPPs have worked well in other sectors for a number of years, especially with local, regional, and state government partners. A public-private partnership (PPP, or P3) is a negotiated contract between a public agency and one or more private-sector companies for building infrastruc- ture or providing services that benefit the public. PPPs are especially useful for completing important projects that have been held back because of lack of funding or internal politics. "For many states and communities across the country, budgets remain flat but infrastructure expenses continue to rise," states Todd Herberghs, executive director for the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships in Washington, D.C. "Public-sector leaders are looking to PPPs as a way to meet their needs in a cost-effective and efficient man- ner. Overall, PPPs are being used in new and exciting ways and moving beyond transportation and wastewater facilities toward energy, justice facilities, and education projects." "Colleges and universities are continuing to face a real in- frastructure and deferred maintenance crisis that is now being paired with flat tuition rates, increasing expenses, and decreased revenue," adds Ronald LaPorte, vice president of partnership development for Corvias Campus Living in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. "On average, 60 percent of a school's space is over 25 years old, and schools face a backlog of $92 per gross square foot on their facilities. Increased demands for improvements, rising costs, fixed revenues, and decreased endowments have stalled renovation and new construction projects on campuses everywhere." Public-private partnerships can rescue these important projects. They solve university space problems by providing upfront financing and/or by bringing property not owned by the university into consideration. PPPs can also deliver projects more quickly, conserve taxpayer money, and take advantage of private-sector expertise when it comes to the latest advancements in design, materials, and construction methods. "As buildable space becomes increasingly scarce on campus, consideration for relocating back-of- house administrative services off campus needs to be explored," states Donald J. Guckert, associate vice president of facilities management for the University of Iowa in Iowa City. "PPPs provide the means for colleges and universities to effectively lease, versus finance, facilities. Off-campus PPP deliveries may also drive down costs, since the private-partner builder is not governed by public bidding statutes or restricted by project delivery methods." ARE PPPs AS GOOD AS THEY SOUND? PPPs got their start in the education market as a funding tool for building student housing. They are now being used in more creative ways to leverage the many benefits they offer, including access to funding, protecting debt capacity, reduced developer costs, operational expertise, risk mitigation, and faster project delivery. Depending on the project, a PPP can be completed in half the time or less, compared to the university building it on its own. PPPs also provide developers Portland State University Portland, OR We have completed two public-private partner- ship facilities—a mixed-use Academic and Student Recreation Center with funding from the City of Portland and space for the city's archives and historical documents. We used a similar development strategy in bringing in a partner to construct our College Station residen- tial housing facility with a third-party contract. Our most recent project is a 660,000 gsf facility for science focused instruction and research, with medical professional track programs in the Collaborative Life Sciences Building, constructed in partnership between Oregon Health & Sci- ence University (a public corporation), Oregon State University, and Portland State University. The building is constructed on land OHSU was gifted on Portland's south waterfront. The Academic and Student Recreation Center was completed in 2009 in partnership with the City of Portland: http://www.pdx.edu/floorplans/ buildings/asrc. College Station Housing Facility was complet- ed in 2012 in partnership with a private devel- oper. PSU owns the land on which the building is constructed. American Campus Communities funded construction of the building and man- ages its operation on a long-term lease: http://www.pdx.edu/insidepsu/college-station- residence-hall The Collaborative Life Sciences Building was completed in 2014 in partnership with OHSU (a public corporation) and Or- egon State University: http://www.pdx.edu/ floorplans/ buildings/clsb. —Robyn Pierce Director, Facilities Management Collaborative Life Sciences Building Todd Herberghs, NCPPP Robyn Pierce