Following the recent law for the acceleration of PPP-projects (ÖPP-Beschleunigungsgesetz) and its purpose to improve the market for the implementation of PPP-projects in Germany, the German federal legislation has mandated the German Ministry of Finance in cooperation with the Ministry of Traffic, Building and city development with the founding of a counselling company for PPP-projects for the public sector.

The company will be established as a stock company and will be named ÖPP Deutschland AG (in the following Partnerschaften Deutschland, PD). This company is a vehicle to further accelerate the market for and the number of PPP-projects in Germany; it is the overall purpose to increase the percentage of PPP-projects in view of the total investments in public infrastructure as well as to focus on efficiency advantages of PPP-projects vs. conventional public projects in the national market. 

The federal Republic of Germany is planning to establish PD in the fourth quarter of the year 2008. The PD will be established as a true joint partnership between the private economy and the public side.

The Public Sector in Germany increasingly favours a cooperation between private investors and the public sector in infrastructure projects. PPP projects are primarily triggered by the intention to provide public services more efficiently, to optimize life cycle costs of infrastructure projects and to secure a know how transfer. These results are presented in recent studies of the German Institute of Urbanistik (Difu) in Berlin focusing on the evaluation of infrastructure projects in German cities.

For a download of studies of the Difu please refer to:
http://edoc.difu.de/orlis/DF9767.pdf

(BS/R. Uwe Proll, Dr. Falk Peter) 
The SPD and Buendnis 90/Die Gruenen (the Green party) parties in the Bundestag brought in a bill on Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Backed by government majority it will be passed by the parliament in autumn. The proposed bill will not only clarify the term PPP, it will, above all, assure legal certainty. The SPD parliamentary group, which in August 2002 already classified the topic as particularly important for the agenda of the current legislative period, is going to speed up the legislative process. 

According to the proposed bill, Public Private Partnerships should have strong emphasis on infrastructure, public construction works, e-Government, social services, defense, scientific research, education as well as cultural activities. The promoters are calling for an examination of the current assignment, tax, household, local and grant procedures concerning Public Private Partnerships.This legislative process puts a special focus on small and medium sized companies. Furthermore it should be considered if a standard national tax law concerning  PPP’s has to be created. The preparations for a national  center of competence in co-operation with national, federal and municipal actors as well as private partners in the construction business should lead to comparable initiatives. The proposed bill is supposed to clear out current misunderstandings of Public Private Partnerships.  Therefore the promoters define the German term OEPP (Oeffentliche Private Partnerschaften) exclusively in the sense of the English term PFI (Private Finance Initiative). Hence it is neccessary that the term PPP should only be used if it concerns the purely private or public-private financing of public tasks. PPP partners are not only contractors under german laws (procurement law). Moreover they serve new standards and interests. German PPP-laws will have to be orientated on future EU guidelines (s. A. BS 07/03, P. 19).

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