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CPFA Seeks to Establish Best Practices Center on Public-Private Partnerships

WASHINGTON, June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former Governor Howard Dean and former Mayor Stephen Goldsmith announced today the launch of the Council of Project Finance Advisors (CPFA), a working group designed to provide recommendations and advocate for a center of excellence on public-private partnerships (P3). CPFA will raise the awareness of various P3 business models and connect the government (federal, state and local) and private sector with the goal of finding innovative ways to meet the P3 needs of a wide-range of sectors, including transportation, finance, energy, water/wastewater, education, environment, utilities, real estate, information technology and health care.

In addition to Governor Dean and Mayor Goldsmith, the working group will team with Marcia Hale, former Director of Intergovernmental Affairs during the Clinton administration, and Frank M. Rapoport, chair of the Global Infrastructure and Public-Private Partnerships practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. It will also include engineering and construction firms, private equity and pension funds, labor unions, financial institutions and banks, trade associations, academic leaders, developers, consultants and former senior government officials.

"State and local governments are faced with making difficult and costly decisions on funding their infrastructure needs, particularly in light of the current economic crisis," said Governor Dean. "When public-private partnerships are utilized effectively, they provide the public with assets and services that would not be realized otherwise. The vision behind CPFA is to create a level playing field for both the public and private sectors."

Members of CPFA will be at the forefront of the effort to improve public trust in the P3 sector, and to identify and address public sector challenges. The council will promote sound market concepts and accountability for the public and private sectors that reduce costs and address national needs by standardizing bid practices, contracts and other project specific documentation.

"Providing public officials with an independent source of best practices and lessons learned on public-private partnerships is essential," said Mayor Goldsmith. "This model is relatively new in the United States, yet numerous successful case studies exist both here and abroad. We need to engage in P3s in order to rebuild our aging infrastructure and sustain our competitive advantage."

Mayor Goldsmith is now the Daniel Paul Professor of Government and the Director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He has written extensively on the subject of P3s in addition to conducting more than 80 public-private competitions, which resulted in savings of more than $400 million and investment in infrastructure of more than $1 billion as mayor of Indianapolis.

"There is tangible corporate value in being part of the solution rather than the problem, and the CPFA working group members will have an opportunity to assist both the public and private sectors by providing greater transparency and credibility to public-private partnerships," said Rapoport.

McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP is an international law firm with 475 attorneys and public policy advisors. The firm provides business solutions in the areas of environmental regulation, international law, public policy and regulatory affairs, corporate law, government contracts, intellectual property and technology, complex litigation, real estate, energy, and finance. To learn more about the firm and its services, log on to http://www.mckennalong.com