Chapter 6: Ex post Impact Evaluation of PPP Projects — The Project Success Evaluation Pyramid Model
Public–private partnership (PPP) model of procurement has been employed extensively and promoted internationally. However, their performance and their real capacity to achieve public welfare have been questioned. To address this criticism, there is no specific method to assess the impact of PPP projects after its operation phase; an ex post impact evaluation tool needs to be designed. The aim of the research is to develop an ex post evaluation procedure that can address the complexities of PPPs, namely (1) large size and technically complex projects, (2) multiple perceptions of the impacts, (3) vague and uncertain understanding of “public interest”, (4) long time horizon for the evaluation, which in some cases is more than 20 years, and (5) political and ideological drivers that are relevant and difficult to address. A Design Science approach is adopted with four stages. Currently, the research is in its first stage, in which a conceptual framework called Project Success Evaluation Pyramid Model (PSEPM) has been designed and presented to experts. This chapter describes this model and the theory that supports it. The research contributes to the project management and public policy body of knowledge and, consequently, to practice by (1) improving future PPP developments and (2) providing a basis for discussion about the use of PPPs.