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PWF Interview: Nossaman’s Liz Cousins on P3 Challenges and Opportunities in 2024

2024 is a promising year for the US P3 industry. More states, cities and other public sponsors are considering alternative procurement to deliver their projects, passing enabling legislation, or applying P3s in new sectors. At the same time, public sponsors in the industry are facing new challenges. 2023 saw a continued trend of high-profile project cancellations. Public sponsors are also still adapting, and figuring out, delivery using predevelopment agreements (PDAs) or “progressive P3s.” Cost escalation and third-party risks remain high. For some guidance on how public sponsors can navigate these challenges, PWF interviewed Nossaman’s Elizabeth (Liz) Cousins. Liz became the Chair of Nossaman’s Infrastructure Group at the beginning of 2024, taking over the role from Patrick Harder, who is staying on at Nossaman as a partner. She has more than 18 years of experience advising clients on P3s, progressive procurements and other alternative delivery projects in the US and Australia.

LAX APM Debt Downgraded Amid Schedule Relief Negotiations

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the Private Activity Bonds (PABs) for Los Angeles International Airport’s Automated People Mover (APM) project to junk status. The downgrade occurred due to continued construction delays and an increasingly strained relationship between the project’s developer, LAX Integrated Express Solutions (LINXS) and public sponsor, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). The project currently […]

Maryland Denied Federal Grant for American Legion Bridge Replacement

There’s always next year, or, more specifically, there’s always the next round of federal grant applications. Maryland’s project to replace the American Legion Bridge is now unfortunately going to have to wait at least one round longer. The project, which has already experienced years of delays, suffered yet another setback at the end of January, […]

PPP performance evaluation: the social welfare goal, principal–agent theory and political economy (Part II)

Original study by Mark A. Moore and Aidan R. Vining. This month’s article continues the review of Moore and Vining’s detailed review of theoretical and empirical literature on PPP performance.  The first part of their paper adopted a social-welfare framework to examine the literature on PPP performance.  It concluded that the literature demonstrates a lack […]

Calcasieu Uncancelled

As it turns out, some Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) do manage to come back after high-profile cancellations. At least that seems to be the case for the Calcasieu River Bridge replacement project in Louisiana. The late-stage cancellation of the project last October was a blow for the industry, and was just one of a recent string […]

A New Perspective on Truck Tolling

Trucking industry opposition to toll-financing of the replacement I-10 bridge in Louisiana nearly killed this critically important P3 project last fall. Fortunately, this $2.1 billion revenue-risk P3 has been rescued by the legislature, after negotiations that revised the financing plan by reducing toll rates for trucks (and for very local users) and increasing the extent […]

PWF Book Review: Our Lives in Their Portfolios

Christophers, Brett. Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World. Verso, 2023. The infrastructure asset class, and P3s as part of it, are the subject of a new, detailed and biting survey in Brett Christophers’ Our Lives in their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World. The book’s subject is what the […]

Bids in for Puerto Rico Brownfield Toll Road Concession

Bids are in for the first US brownfield toll road concession in years. Local news The San Juan Daily Star reported that at least two of the shortlisted teams for Puerto Rico’s planned toll road concession had submitted proposals to the island’s Public-Private Partnerships Authority (P3A), which is managing the procurement.