- Department of Mechanical engineering and technology management
My Ph.D. research project focuses on the practice of 'Public-Private Partnership (PPP)' in Norway, under the supervision of Associate Professors: Asmamaw Tadege Shiferaw, Tor Kristian Stevik.
PPP projects–in Norwegian it is called Offentlig–privat samarbeid (OPS)–are majorly characterized by the sponsorship role of the private sector to assist societies and governments in delivering public services to the citizens. Transportation, urban development, health, and education, are only a few realms that have taken advantage of PPP within the last couple of centuries. Despite the extensive global application of PPP, the legislative backbone of PPP is fundamentally narrowed down to nationwide practices, leading to a lack of consensus in comprehending this concept. On the other side of the coin, distinct features of PPP turn this approach into a suitable alternative for 'particularly complex' public contracts where–according to Directive 2004/18/EC of the EU–the respective public authority has limitations in (a) defining the technical means and objectives, and (b) specifying the legal and financial make-up of the project. Hence, from a practical point of view, PPP facilitates a higher degree of innovation and flexibility in such scenarios, while embracing an array of challenges that threaten the utilization of PPP.
In my research, the preliminary aim is to study the evolution and different practices of PPP and contribute to the literature by presenting a more solid comprehension of this concept. Furthermore, by focusing on the Norwegian market, it is put forward to investigate the role of transparency–as one of the identified and discussed challenges in PPP–which is widely challenged throughout the front-end stages of the project and impacts the whole phases of a PPP project. Thus, addressing the transparency issues and activating the enablers of this element, not only contributes to a better procurement procedure, but also helps to better utilize the room for collaboration between partners in different stages of a PPP project.
I also contribute to the teaching in the following courses: