What’s good for the state should be good for the county! At least that’s what officials of Northampton County (Penn.) and the county’s General Purpose Authority are hoping.
Photo by Tom Brandt is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Taking a page out of the successful public-private partnership (P3) playbook of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Northampton County and the Authority have issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a P3 for a bridge renewal program. It is an example of yet another local government entity that is adding public-private partnerships to its financial tool kit as an alternative funding resource.
PennDOT’s 2014 Rapid Bridge Replacement Project is a P3 that is replacing 558 of the state’s structurally deficient bridges at a cost of $899 million.
Northampton County’s proposed P3 project calls for a private-sector firm to partner to design, build, finance and maintain a portfolio of 33 bridges in the county. The RFP resulted from the county’s having received an unsolicited proposal from a private-sector developer. Once officials reviewed the unsolicited proposal and found it to be a viable proposal, the RFP was issued inviting other interested parties to offer proposals as well. Responses to the RFP will be analyzed and county officials will have the option of choosing a developer from those proposals for possible contract negotiations.
The project calls for replacement of 28 of the 33 bridges and rehabilitation of the remaining five. In exchange for the design, construction, financing and maintenance of the bridges, the developer would receive annual payments from the county that will be laid out in the P3 agreement.
While state and federal P3 agreements generally garner the most attention, local government entities are realizing that while their coffers are shrinking, private-sector capital is abundant. That capital and the expertise of private-sector firms can provide more efficient and cost-effective solutions, ensuring that local governments can undertake projects that meet the needs of their communities.