Construction Dive
Rutan & Tucker Partner William Eliopoulos talked to Construction Dive about ConsenusDocs releasing a new form of agreement that public agencies, contractors and other stakeholders can use for public-private partnership (P3) projects.
“There are many important benefits of using the P3 delivery method for appropriate infrastructure projects —simplicity of the contract documents is not one of them,” said Eliopoulos. “Every P3 project is different.” The ConsensusDocs 900 document, he said, omits and glosses over many important terms that should be included even in small to mid-sized projects.
For example, he said, an important benefit of the P3 model is that the concessionaire gives the public entity owner post-construction facility performance guarantees and agrees to financial penalties if they are not met. “This important benefit seems to be missing from the ConsensusDocs 900 project agreement,” Eliopoulos said.
In addition, he said, one of the important advantages of the P3 delivery method is that it allows the public entity owner, concessionaire, design-build contractor and long-term operations and maintenance service provider to collaborate at the beginning of procurement and determine how best to structure the deal, including who is in the best position to price and control each of the project’s major risks, how best to design it, build it, finance it and operate and maintain it. This seems to be missing from ConsensusDocs 900, Eliopoulos said.
