In case you missed it, last week the Georgia House let the legislative session end without voting on Georgia SB 255, a broad enabling legislation for a wide range of public private partnerships ("P3"). SB 255 would enable the state and political subdivisions to utilize P3 procurement for any project that "meets a public purpose and has previously been identified as a public need by the elected or appointed leaders." Qualifying projects expressly included "operation of any existing public facility in a manner that results in reduced operating costs," including public schools, local government buildings and higher education institutions.
SB 255 passed the Georgia Senate earlier this year in overwhelming fashion (43-8), but the house never voted on the bill. And with the session now ended, the bill is effectively dead and would need to be re-introduced next session.
Georgia's current P3 procurement laws allow P3 financing for projects related to certain water reservoirs, facilities, and systems. The P3 process for water projects includes multiple opportunities for public comment, bidders responding to written request for proposals and the applicable authority engaging in discussions with respondents. Under the current, more limited procedure, announcement of the "most meritorious" proposal is then followed by period or competitive negotiations and an award based on value and ability of the final project's characteristics to meet goals consistent with state, regional and local comprehensive plans.
P3 has become a topic of interest lately because of the coinciding need for infrastructure improvements and the public lethargy in funding such improvements. Georgia Governor Deal stated (when he signed Georgia's P3 legislation on water infrastructure), "This stretches public dollars by attracting partners to move forward with public works projects that will benefit the citizens of the state for generations. The lack of funding has hampered progress, even with a punishing drought in recent memory." Still, even with the benefits that P3 might bring, broad and sweeping delegation of public services to the private sector encounters skepticism, and Georgia chose not to enact broad legislation this time around. We'll report back on this issue next session.
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