Motivations and Critical Success Factors of Indian Public–Private Partnership Unsolicited Proposals

Unsolicited proposals (USP) are the ones where a public project/facility is identified and developed by a private entity without any formal invitation from the government. Thus, it became imperative to understand the motivations of parties and the critical success factors for effective implementation of the projects. Motivations and critical success factors for adopting unsolicited proposals are synthesised by a thorough literature review of the literature. The present study sought to adopt the 11 motivations and 11 critical success factors of USP proposed by various authors. Subsequently, questionnaire survey with 56 stakeholders is conducted, and statistical tests are performed on the perceptions on critical implementation features of USP such as regulations, competing proposals, time and cost, incentive and reward, and motivations in the USP procurement, between the public and private stakeholder groups. Findings indicate that the four significant motivations are enhancing innovation and creativity in the private entity, rapid implementation of projects, low private sectors’ interest in remote area projects, and ease of securing project finance. These findings can help the practitioners to roll out policies that prevent poor implementation and forge the occurrence of success with the use of critical success factors identified in this study. The developed USP implementation framework can direct the policymakers and practitioners to incorporate necessary changes for the successful implementation of USPs in Indian conditions. The industry can seize more business opportunities, grow market share and solve community problems based on the insights provided in this study. © 2021, The Institution of Engineers (India).