WASHINGTON, DC, May 8, 2002— As governments at the state, local and federal level are faced with increased service demands and infrastructure needs, they are increasingly turning to partnerships with the private sector to provide vital services to their constituencies. A report issued today by a Washington-based non-partisan organization says these partnerships are not without controversy, but that the public has benefited significantly from them.

The report, "For the Good of the People: Using Public-Private Partnerships to Meet America’s Essential Needs" was released today by The National Council for Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP). The report says, "Without the use of public-private partnerships, many elected officials will be faced with choosing between harmful reductions in services and significant tax increases. By being innovative and forging new ways of providing vital services, governments are proving that public-private partnerships are a practical and viable alternative that, in many cases, maintain quality services without significant tax increases."

The NCPPP report examines the impact of a wide variety of public-private partnerships throughout the country, finding that:

• Increasingly, school districts are forming partnerships with the private sector to build schools in communities where school buildings are dilapidated and inadequate to meet growing student populations.

• States are turning to public-private partnerships to help address the congestion and growing decay of the nation’s roadways, working with these private firms to build new highways and toll roads.

• With local governments financially hard-pressed to meet the expensive mandates of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, partnerships are being developed with private companies to improve and operate water and wastewater facilities.

• City governments are utilizing partnerships to handle time-consuming paperwork and crime reporting chores, enabling officers to spend more time on the streets.

• Citizens in rural areas are now able to join the telecommunications revolutions, as states are developing partnerships resulting in the extension of fiber optic lines to sparsely-populated regions.

The NCPPP report acknowledges that public-private partnerships are not without controversy. It says, "Much of the opposition to public-private partnerships is ideological and philosophical. It stems from the belief that the profit motive that drives corporations is consistently and diametrically opposed to the public good which governments strive to achieve."

The report notes, though, that government agencies and organizations of public officials, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, are actively supporting and providing information on the value of public-private partnerships.

"Careful analysis has shown that the profit motive inherent in investor-owned corporations does not lead to an undermining of the public good," the report says. "The need to produce results in order to maintain a contractual relationship and achieve future contracts is a compelling reason to provide quality performance."

Note: You may view this document at www.ncppp.org/presskit/index.html