PUBLIC - PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS WITH EMPHASIS ON FAILED CASES

According to the Special Secretariat for Public Private Partnership (PPP), PPPs establish a vital modification to the construction of public organization and the establishment of qualitative services to citizens. They usually are long-term contracts, concluded between the public sector and the private one, either for immobile constructions or for delivery of services. PPP is a modern world-wide tool and exemplifies the school of thought in New Public Management (NPM). NPM movement began in the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, so as municipal government to come up against with economic recession and tax revolts. The success of a PPP contract depends on many factors, such as the completeness of the contract outline and, the accuracy and clarity of the contract terms, and their success is not always guaranteed. There are several examples of failed PPPs, some of which are discussed and analyzed below, in order to discover the reasons of failure and how these can be avoided. A comparison of a successful and an unsuccessful is also given so as to emphasize the importance of proper design of a PPP program. The main questions examined here are: Which are the main reasons behind a failure? How a failure can be confronted by the public sector? Was it the public or the private sector that had the greater responsibility for the failure?