Mervyn K. Lewis, Rethinking Public Private Partnerships (Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2021) 160 pp. (£70.00 paperback, paperback ISBN 978‐1‐78990‐639‐4. The eBook version is priced from £25/$26 from eBook vendors while in print the book can be ordered from the Edward Elgar Publishing website)

• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Author: Stefan Verweij
• Date: 01 November 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13559

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13559

Rethinking Public Private

Partnerships

Mervyn K. Lewis, (Cheltenham, Edward

Elgar, 2021) 160 pp. (£70.00 paperback,

paperback ISBN 978-1-78990-639-4.

The eBook version is priced from £25/$26

from eBook vendors while in print the

book can be ordered from the Edward

Elgar Publishing website)

Stefan Verweij

University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands

Email: s.verweij@rug.nl

Recent developments in the construction sector have

fueled a debate about the future of public–private part-

nerships (PPPs), in particular that of long-term infrastruc-

ture contracts (LTICs) such as design-build-finance-

maintain-operate (DBFMO) contracts. These contracts are

characterized by the integration or “bundling”of differ-

ent project phases into a single contract, the significant

transfer of risks to the private sector, and private financ-

ing. In the U.K., for instance, in the wake of the bank-

ruptcy of construction company Carillion and because

private financing is said to provide limited or no better

value-for-money (VfM) than public financing, no new con-

tracts under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) are signed

(Davies, 2018; Global Construction Review, 2018). In the

Netherlands, after financ ial problems i n various larg e

infrastructure projects and because of the perceived

poor health and poor innovation capacity of the con-

struction sector (Den Berg, Harm, & Riemersma, 2021;

Koenen, 2018), the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water

Management is now reconsidering the use of DBFMO

contracts (Koenen, 2019; Rijkswaterstaat, 2019). Such

developments warrant a rethinking of PPPs and Lewis’

book (2021) caters to that need.

In the opening chapter of his book, Lewis (2021)

reviews recent developments, including the abandon-

ment of the PFI but also recent reports from the

European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)

and the European Court of Auditors (2018), to illustrate

the growing discontent with and unpopularity of PPPs.

Given these recent developments and reports, he

endeavors to rethink PPPs. What can PPPs do and what

can they not do? Are they good Vf and can they ever be?

Why would policy makers and infrastructure planners

choose to procure infrastructure projects and services

through PPPs? What is the future of PPPs? The book is

focused on PPPs in the U.K. and Australia mainly

(although it also features discussions of European PPPs

and reports), and by implication, it focuses on LTIC part-

nerships such as DBFMO.

Before delving into these questions in the main chap-

ters of the book, Lewis (2021) starts in chapter 2 by sum-

marizing and reviewing some key academic works about

PPPs, including Linder (1999), Osborne (2000), Savas

(2000), and Grimsey and Lewis (2004). The chapter

explains the origins of the LTIC partnership model (which

is the focus of the book), its attractiveness at the time,

and also explains that private sector involvement in the

delivery of public infrastructure services is not new, but

rather like a “swinging pendulum, going between pure

public provision to pure private provision”(Vives

et al., 2010; in Lewis, 2021, p. 18). The chapter concludes

with an explanation of how the dissatisfaction with the

traditional procurement model, where the public sector

puts out separate contracts for the different project

phases of design, construction, maintenance, and opera-

tion, and publicly finances these, coupled with the influ-

ence of New Public Management, gave rise to the

popularity of the LTIC partnership model in the first place.

The well-known study by Bent Flyvbjerg et al. (2003), also

elaborated in chapter 6 of the book, for instance, proved

that infrastructure projects show persistent patterns of

cost overruns and time delays, globally and over time,

and proposed that increasing private involvement in the

projects through, inter alia, the use of performance speci-

fications and the involvement of risk capital (both charac-

teristics of PPPs) could improve decision-making on and

planning of public infrastructure projects. In his book,

Lewis (2021) also argues that PPPs, by and large, indeed

seem to have delivered on these promises, as they con-

tain incentives for the private partner to deliver projects

on time, on budget, and with improved quality of ser-

vices, that are also effective in these regards. In chapter

3, the characteristics of PPPs laid out in the first two chap-

ters are revisited by summarizing recent writings, for

instance by Monk et al. (2019), on the myths and miscon-

ceptions of PPPs. It makes clear that PPPs certainly have

their merits but are no cure for all ills, either. As with any

procurement model, there are advantages and disadvan-

tages, strengths and limitations. The first three chapters

combined present a well-drafted review of the current

discussions on PPPs, informed by the classics as well as

recent academic literature.

In chapter 4, the focus shifts to an examination of the

VfM of PPPs. Can PPPs ever be good value? The question is

approached by reviewing recent discussions about PPPs,

both theoretical and in policy making. Importantly, the

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