Evaluating public-private partnerships at the Nexus

This fellowship will provide important tools and knowledge to deliver the Government's ambitious Industrial Strategy. Specifically, it will develop, test, apply, and promote innovative appraisal and evaluation approaches for understanding public-private-partnerships (PPP) in food-energy-water-environment Nexus domains, with a particular focus on infrastructure. PPP in these areas might be for energy plants, waste management infrastructure, reservoirs, or water treatment plants. Partnerships of these types, for infrastructure and other purposes, are a key delivery mechanism for many of the Industrial Strategy's goals. The Strategy repeatedly makes clear the importance of PPP in delivering innovation, growth, and infrastructure.

The fellow will develop frameworks for both appraising (i.e. assessment before a PPP has started) and evaluating (i.e. understanding if and why a PPP has been a success or not) PPP in food-energy-water-environment Nexus domains. These frameworks will set out the important questions to address when studying PPP, the appropriate methods to use to answer them, and the data which will be needed. These frameworks will be published freely and actively shared with appraisal and evaluation communities in the UK and beyond, and experts in PPP, infrastructure, and other relevant areas. The fellow will also deliver a critical review of the types of PPP used currently and in the past.

The development of the frameworks will also be supported by regular interaction with those who will use them, to ensure their needs are accounted for. A key part of this will be a project within the fellowship with Anglian Water and the South Lincolnshire Water Partnership (the SLWP is a group of public, private and third sector organisations collaborating to plan the management and use of water resources in the South Lincolnshire Fens and adjacent areas). This project will explore old and new models of PPP that the partnership could adopt. It will help the group explore options to better share risk and reward across the partnership, improve project delivery, and maximise benefits. The project will also explore options for updating water abstraction licensing strategies as part of Defra's 'Water Abstraction Plan' initiative (the partnership is a pilot catchment in this initiative). The project will serve to underpin the development of the frameworks through the understanding it will generate of user needs, and the space it will allow for testing the approach to be used.

The fellowship also has ambitious plans for delivering unique career development and training to the fellow via: (i) a distinctive and comprehensive mentoring programme (including mentors from industry, government, and academia); (ii) a shadowing and short-term placement plan at industry partners such as Anglian Water; and (iii) an intensive professional development and training programme including training provided by the University of Surrey, but also industry and government partners.

All of this work will be underpinned by the novel methodological approach of the fellow's host, the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus, which combines the tools and thinking provided by Complexity Science and the food-energy-water-environment Nexus approach, with social research methods and effective policy evaluation approaches.

The fellowship will deliver a range of outputs, the most important of which will be both an academic journal paper and a freely available report on each of the following topics: (i) reviewing types of PPP; (ii) appraising PPP; and (iii) evaluating PPP. The appraisal and evaluation reports will each go through two iterations of development, to allow the time for meaningful input from users between iterations.

Non-academic beneficiaries of the fellowship include:

Private sector:

Businesses that are considering joining a PPP, or are already part of one, will have interest in the deeper understanding, and tools for appraising and evaluating PPP, generated by this fellowship. They may make or change decisions, or become aware of new opportunities based on the work of the fellowship. Those businesses operating at the food-energy-water-environment Nexus will find particular value, for example water companies (including project partner Anglian Water), energy companies, waste management companies, and food businesses (such as large retailers, wholesalers and markets).

Other companies will also find value in the fellowship's effort and outputs where they need frameworks and tools to aid their work in facilitating, implementing, appraising and evaluating PPP. For example: companies which deliver and facilitate such as CH2M and Plus Value; project management and finance companies such as CB&S; infrastructure investment funds such as MIRA and Meridian Infrastructure; appraisal and evaluation companies such as Berkeley Research Group, and Risk Solutions; and large accountancy and engineering firms, such as KPMG (e.g. Corporate Finance Infrastructure division) and Atkins, which deliver services related to PPP and engage in them themselves.

Third sector:

Third sector organisations may also be part of, or be considering joining PPP; again, they will find value in the understanding and tools developed in the fellowship. Other NGOs which analyse PPP will also find value, for example the Institute for Government which has considered PPP under its remit of making government more effective. Some appraisal and evaluation organisations are also technically third sector where they are not-for-profit, for example the Tavistock Institute.

Public sector:

Government departments and agencies that observe or are part of PPP regularly in their areas of responsibility will have strong interest in the knowledge and tools developed in the fellowship. Their analysts will be able to use the appraisal and evaluation outputs directly in their work, and policy teams will be able to get a broader sense of PPP from the critical review. The departments and agencies most likely to find the work of value are those CECAN already works with, BEIS, Defra, FSA, EA, however the Departments of Health and Education are also likely to be interested given the prevalence of PPP in their areas.

Agencies with remits related to infrastructure (such as the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, and National Infrastructure Committee), and auditing (such as the National Audit Office) will also find value in the fellow's work.

Foreign government and intergovernmental organisations which conduct work which could make use of the fellowship's efforts and outputs include: the European Court of Auditors (conducts audits, but also a proactive programme on evidence and reviews); the European Environment Agency (which carries out and commissions appraisal and evaluation); the UNECE Committee on Innovation, Competitiveness and Public Private Partnerships (which advises governments on PPP); and the World Bank (which also advises on PPP).

Developing relationships:

The relationship with Anglian Water and the SLWP is already established. Other relationships will be built and maintained through an iterative and snowballing approach, which will include regular reach-outs to new potential users at key points in output delivery, and maintenance of existing relationships. There will also be specific 'big pushes' on reaching out to users at the beginning and end of the fellowship. These efforts will involve bespoke bilateral meetings with the possibility of direct input into or exploitation of the fellow's work where interest is high. CECAN already has many relationships with relevant organisations in the public, private and third sectors, and these will be a key entry point.