Since the mid-1990s, Nova Scotia’s government has made good use of public-private partnerships, or P3s, for school construction. Unfortunately, the record of these projects has been poorly understood, with some groups advocating that school construction be financed by government capital alone.
In fact, the record of P3’s has been strong. Government saved money through these partnerships and built more schools than traditional procurement could achieve. While there were some mistakes of planning and execution, the province’s first foray into P3 schools was an overall success.
In future, government should expand its use of P3 models to tap into innovation and entrepreneurship, lower costs, and improve efficiency for building public infrastructure.