Find Joint Development Agreement Termsheet.

Joint venture arrangements in infrastructure projects were until recently generally only relevant to regulating the relationships between private parties to a project company in a Build-Own-Transfer (BOT) or concession project. There is increased use of them between public utilities and private parties, often in combination with or following the corporatization of a public utility.

Set out below are samples of standard bidding documents and guidance on preparing bidding documents developed for various countries.

Whatever model of reform that is chosen for reforming public utilities, it has been found that these reforms can be made more effective if there is a performance contract in place between the utility and the government or regulator with incentives to meet and outperform that plan. This performance plan may be included in an informal Performance Contract, Contract Plan or a more formal, legally binding intergovernmental loan or grant agreement.

Where PPP projects involve funding from the World Bank, then the World Bank Procurement Guidelines and Procedures will apply. This section also includes useful template bidding documents.

Full divestiture, also known as, privatization, occurs when all or substantially all the interests of a government in a utility asset or a sector are transferred to the private sector. A divested or privatized utility or public service is distinguishable from a private commercial enterprise in that the government generally retains some indirect form of control or mechanism for regulation over the privatized utility, in the form of a license granted to the entity to deliver the service to the public.

This section does not focus on the relationship between consortium members bidding on a project where they may decide to form a special purpose company, although the issues covered in the Joint Venture Checklist and the Joint Development Agreement Termsheet. See also Sources of Financing. It explores key issues to consider when establishing joint ventures.

Concessions, Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Projects, and Design-Build-Operate (DBO) Projects are types of public-private partnerships that are output focused. BOT and DBO projects typically involve significant design and construction as well as long term operations, for new build (greenfield) or projects involving significant refurbishment and extension (brownfield). See below for definitions of each type of agreement, as well as key features and examples of each. This page also includes links to checklists, toolkits, and sector-specific PPP information.

Leases and affermage contracts are generally public-private sector arrangements under which the private operator is responsible for operating and maintaining the utility but not for financing the investment.

Management contracts and Operation and Maintenance (O&M) contracts are contracts governing a type of public-private partnership (PPP) agreement. This section explains key features of this type of arrangement, provides sample contracts, bidding documents and checklists.