We’re very happy to be working in Azerbaijan again, providing support to the government as it seeks to identify opportunities for public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the education sector.
Our responsibilities include identifying potential pilot projects and carrying out initial viability assessments. The current focus is on the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.
We are working in Uzbekistan again, this time working as part of a team developing a support package that will significantly strengthen STEM education in the country. The package will cover curriculum development, teacher training, infrastructure improvements and a network of STEM specialist schools in every district.
Our role is to explore the potential for strategic partnerships and PPPs in the STEM education sector, and we have developed several concepts including bilateral partnership arrangements and a multilateral PPP to develop a STEM visitor centre and educational hub.
In this article for Development Asia, Asian Development Bank’s knowledge sharing portal, we draw on experience in Scotland, Latin America and Asia to demonstrate ways in which partnerships between the public, private and third sectors are helping minimise the disruption to education caused by Covid-19. We go on to identify four key lessons.
https://development.asia/insight/lessons-scoping-education-ppps
Yesterday, 11 December 2019, the third of the facilities in the latest NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde healthcare PPP reached financial close.
Unusually, the new facility (new Clydebank Health and Care Centre) is being added to an existing DBFM contract under a pre-agreed change procedure.
The first component of this healthcare project reached financial in December 2018 and procured two new facilities (the new Greenock Health Centre and Mental Health In-patient facilities at Stobhill Hospital). The private partner is hub West Scotland and the contract follows Scotland’s hub/DBFM “PPP-lite” template contract.
We supported the NHS in-house team and were responsible for a range a financial transaction support activities including assessing financial submissions from the private sector partner, confirming that returns, margins and fees are consistent with benchmarks and validating financial model optimisation throughout the procurement and at financial close.
In this blog for Development Asia, an initiative of Asian Development Bank, we draw on experience from around the world to demonstrate that the education sector needs a different approach to PPP project identification and selection compared to the classic infrastructure sectors (such as transport, energy, municipal services), and propose a viable methodology.
https://development.asia/insight/lessons-scoping-education-ppps
In anticipation of a forthcoming assignment, I recently attended “What’s Next for Education Reforms in Punjab”. This event was hosted by the Centre for Global Development in London.
Speakers from the #Punjab #School #Education #Department, #DFID, and The Citizens Foundation (#TCF) shared experiences and views on Punjab’s fast-paced and ambitious education reforms.
I have published a full report on my Linkedin page, and present a summary of the key points below:
I would like to thank event organisers at Centre for Global Development, and the speakers for such an interesting discussion.
Full report at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/education-reforms-punjab-center-global-development-event-finnigan/
As financial transaction advisers to Scottish Borders Council on their Jedburgh Intergenerational Campus project, we are pleased to report that Financial Close was achieved on 25 October.
The new £32 million education campus will replace three existing schools in the town and will include #nursery, #primary, #secondary, and further educational facilities.
The project is being delivered in partnership with hub South East Scotland using the standard Scottish PPP/DBFM structure, and achieved financial close 13 months after the business case (known as the New Project Request) was approved.
This successful project continues our relationship with the Council, having previously advised them on the development of the new Kelso High School which achieved Financial Close in February 2016 and which opened on time and budget in November 2017.
The Glasgow City Council procurement of the new Blairdardie and Carntyne primary schools reached financial close on 23 October 2017, and the first of the schools, Carntyne, was handed over on time and budget on 19th October 2018, with Blairdardie on target for hand over on time in February 2019.
The new primary schools have been developed under a single compact PPP contract between the Council and hub West Scotland.
As the public sector Financial Transaction Adviser on this PPP we supported the Council’s in-house team and were responsible for assessing financial submissions from the private sector partner. This included confirming that returns, margins and fees are in line with the market and consistent with pre-agreed levels. We worked closed with technical specialists to calibrate the payment mechanism, and supported commercial negotiations.
We are helping NHS Highland procure two new DBFM/PPP hospitals from hub North Scotland. The new hospital in Broadford on the Isle of Skye will replace the ageing Dr MacKinnon Memorial Hospital, and the new hospital in Badenoch and Strathspey will centralise services currently delivered through several dispersed inpatient units that are not fit for purpose.
Within a wider redesign of health and social care services, the new hospitals will deliver a range of benefits including:
The two new hospitals will be developed under a single DBFM/PPP contract using the Scottish hub ‘compact PPP’ modality.
We will support the NHS in-house team and are responsible to assessing financial submissions from the private sector partner, confirming that returns, margins and fees are value for money and consistent with pre-agreed levels. We will liaise with technical specialists to calibrate the payment mechanism and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and will contribute to commercial negotiations.
This week, on 21 and 22 May 2018, we attended the first Colombia Investment Roadshow in London, a joint event whose organisers included British & Colombian Chamber of Commerce; the British Embassy in Bogotá; the Department of International Trade teams in Colombia and London; The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Andean Desk and the Prosperity Fund Colombia; The Colombian Embassy in London and Procolombia.
The purposes of the event were to present the key infrastructure projects in Colombia, to explain the investment environment and to support joint initiatives to address some of the challenges that are still experienced in the sector and in the country.
A series of speakers explained the economic backdrop and investment outlook in the country, and provided personal perspectives on experiences of developing projects there. Key projects in rail, rolling stock, Smart Cities, schools, healthcare, waterways, airports and water treatment were described in detail, including explanations of the procurement process and the roles of the main protagonists.
The main points we took from the event were:
At Caledonian Economics we look forward to building on existing relationships in Colombia and developing new ones, so that we can play our part in the continuing success of this remarkable country and helping create, as one speaker put it, “a piece of the peace”.
