PPP / PFI Promotion Committee

PPP(Public Private Partnership) is a concept originally introduced by the British Prime Minster Tony Blair. It opens up certain government services to public bidding. According to the circumstances of different public sector projects, quantitative assessment methods are allocated to tasks, such as privatizations or PFIs, in order to measure and improve efficiency.

Purpose

Since the introduction of the PFI law, about 40 PFI projects have been announced in prefectures and municipalities all over Japan. These projects symbolize the accelerated shift of public services to the private sector.

So far, PFI projects have been largely limited to those related to so-called "hard services" such as construction or maintenance of buildings or equipment.

In the UK, in addition to the maintenance of hospital and prison buildings, the services delivered inside the buildings are often provided by the private sector. Some public contracts are exclusively for operation of services within the buildings.

We need more service sector oriented PFI projects. We are concerned about the continued growth of privatization of hard services alone.

As the migration of public services to the private sector progresses, there is a possibility that a demand for new business to take over public services will arise within those areas. It is now necessary to conduct research from wider perspectives in cooperation with companies that are willing to participate in publicly funded projects.

Main Movements

1. October, 2001. The Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry set up a new committee with experts from the academic and private sectors to examine possibilities for PPPs. Relevant ministries such as Japan Defense Agency and Ministry of Finance agreed to cooperate. Basic research was conducted to obtain overviews of UK, German, and French systems.
2. At the 3rd Executive Committee Meeting on the 20th of February, The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry proposed following three points:
   1. Founding of a subcommittee for examining PPPs
   2. A symposium on May 24th
   3. Amendment of the name of the PPP Committee to PPP/PFI Promotion Committee. The proposals were accepted and agreed upon.

New Orientation

The committee will be aiming for service-oriented projects and projects in fields where PPPs appear beneficial.

The Japanese Public Private Partnership Research Group of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will study the targeted fields. It aims to make case studies and study current conditions, and will propose improvements, goals, and future projects.

Operational responsibility will be delegated to branches. A separate report will be published entitled "Japanese Public Private Partnership: Opening up public services." The emphasis of this report will be on current and future, as yet unplanned tasks.