Evaluation of a Nontraditional Approach to Fund, Finance, and Manage Metropolitan Freeways

Author(s):  
Patrick DeCorla-Souza ◽  
Morteza Farajian

The purpose of this paper is twofold: ( a) to present a nontraditional, performance outcome–based public–private partnership (PPP) approach to finance and fund freeway reconstruction that relies not just on generating new revenue but also on optimizing scope and costs to achieve financial viability and ( b) to demonstrate how the approach can be evaluated for a specific project with an innovative value for money (VfM) assessment method that considers financial parameters, risk elements, and social benefits. The paper assesses the potential effects of the approach for a hypothetical project on ( a) the public agency’s financial position and ( b) public welfare. For this assessment, the effects of the project itself are assessed first by comparing conventional delivery of the project with “no build,” assuming that the project can be conventionally delivered in the same time frame as the PPP. Next, the effects of project acceleration are assessed by analyzing the effects of delaying conventional project delivery because of the public agency’s fiscal constraints. Finally, the PPP approach is compared with conventional delivery using public financing. The evaluation approach demonstrates how current VfM analysis practice may be enhanced by ( a) including a quantitative assessment of public welfare benefits and ( b) considering “no build” operations and maintenance cost savings to assess the net effect on the financial position of the agency.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 825
Author(s):  
Jonas Ammenberg ◽  
Sofia Dahlgren

This article departs from the perspective of Swedish regional transport authorities and focuses on the public procurement of bus transports. Many of these public organizations on the county level have the ambition to contribute to a transition involving the continued marginalization of fossil fuels and improved sustainability performance. However, there are several renewable bus technologies to choose between and it can be difficult to know what alternative (or combination) is preferable. Prior research and the authors’ experiences indicate a need for improved knowledge and supportive methods on how sustainability assessments can support public procurement processes. The purpose of this article is to develop a multi-criteria assessment (MCA) method to support assessments of public bus technologies’ sustainability. The method, which was established in an iterative and participatory process, consists of four key areas and 12 indicators. The article introduces the problem context and reviews selected prior research of relevance dealing with green or sustainable public procurement and sustainability assessments. Further on, the process and MCA method are presented and discussed based on advice for effective and efficient sustainability assessments. In the companion article (Part II), the MCA method is applied to assess several bus technologies involving biodiesel, biomethane, diesel, electricity, ethanol and natural gas.


Author(s):  
Alain Klarsfeld ◽  
Gaëlle Cachat-Rosset

Equality is a concept open to many interpretations in the legal domain, with equality as equal treatment dominating the scene in the bureaucratic nation-state. But there are many possibilities offered by legal instruments to go beyond strict equality of treatment, in order to ensure equality of opportunity (a somehow nebulous concept) and equality of outcomes. Legislation can be sorted along a continuum, from the most discriminatory ones (“negative discrimination laws”) such as laws that prescribe prison sentences for people accused of being in same-sex relationships, to the most protective ones, labeled as “mandated outcome laws” (i.e., laws that prescribe quotas for designated groups) through “legal vacuum” (when laws neither discriminate nor protect), “restricted equal treatment” (when data collection by employers to monitor progress is forbidden or restricted), “equal treatment” (treating everyone the same with no consideration for outcomes), “encouraged progress” (when data collection to monitor progress on specific outcomes is mandatory for employers), and mandated progress (when goals have to be fixed and reached within a defined time frame on specified outcomes). Specific countries’ national legislation testify that some countries moved gradually along the continuum by introducing laws of increasing mandate, while (a few) others introduced outcome mandates directly and early on, as part of their core legal foundations. The public sector tends to be more protective than the private sector. A major hurdle in most countries is the enforcement of equality laws, mostly relying on individuals initiating litigation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 24-33
Author(s):  
Anastasia G. Coldina ◽  

Issues in the sphere of education are the pressing ones not only today. For historical reasons, any social upheaval in the country has an impact on the public education. The century-old events are not an exception. The system of agrarian education in Soviet Russia encountered great difficulties at the time of the dismantlement of NEP and during the village modernization. In connection with the new tasks facing agriculture, the small network of educational establishments, their disparity, low student take-in capacity, poor financial position and low professional level of graduates could not meet the needs of the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture. Absence of necessary assistance and control from the superior authorities over many educational establishments, particularly over many mid-ranking and low-ranking institutions, adversely affected their activity. The State paid special attention to young peasants and tried to increase the proportion of that social group among the applicants. But the peasants’ financial hardship, shortage of time for studies, weak education proficiency, lack of the scholarship allowances and of accommodation in many educational institutions hampered the implementation of the task. To overcome the situation, it was required to restructure – in cooperation with all those involved – the existing system of agrarian staff training.


2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 390
Author(s):  
Yohanes Suhardin

AbstrakThe role of the state in combating poverty is very strategic. Combatingpoverty means to free citizens who are poor. The strategic role given thenational ideals (read: state) is the creation of public welfare. Therefore,countries in this regard the government as the organizer of the state musthold fast to the national ideals through legal product that is loaded withsocial justice values in order to realize common prosperity. Therefore, thenature of the law is justice, then in the context of the state, the lawestablished for the creation of social justice. Law believed that social justiceas the path to the public welfare so that the Indonesian people in a relativelyshort time to eradicate poverty.


2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (192) ◽  
pp. 7-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Lausev

The paper explores the effect of large-scale privatization of public sector activities on public-private sector pay differential, for groups of workers according to educational qualification on average and across the pay distribution in Serbia, from 2004 until 2008. The paper finds that both unskilled and skilled men and women in the public sector saw significant improvements in their financial position relative to their private sector counterparts with the progress of the economic transition. The results showed that the size of the public sector pay premium declines both with higher educational level and higher percentile of earnings distribution. This indicates, between and within groups, the inequality-reducing feature of the public sector pay determination.


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