Build America Bureau releases paper on revenue risk sharing for P3s

Washington, D.C. — The Build America Bureau, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Center for Innovative Finance Support, released a discussion paper on Revenue Risk Sharing for Highway Public-Private Partnerships. This discussion paper has been developed for transportation professionals who may be involved in the financing of a Public-Private Partnership (P3) project involving toll revenue.

The paper is available at www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd/p3/toolkit/publications.

During the last decade, several U.S. toll highway P3s experienced significant financial stress requiring restructuring. Lately, some private concessionaires have avoided revenue risk P3s, preferring those in which public agencies retain the responsibility for revenues, typically through availability payments. To ensure robust private participation in U.S. P3s – and explore whether there is a “middle ground” between availability payment and revenue risk toll P3s – the Build America Bureau and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are publishing this paper to foster a discussion about sharing downside revenue risk between the public and private partners. The discussion paper evaluates revenue risk sharing mechanisms from both the public and private sector perspectives, applying four criteria — value for money, fiscal impacts, financeability and ease of implementation.

The Build America Bureau and FHWA also are presenting a webinar on Thursday, January 26, 2017, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern.  Sasha Page of IMG Rebel, the principal author of the paper, will provide an overview of the paper and answer questions. Pre-registration is required for this event at https://collaboration.fhwa.dot.gov/dot/fhwa/WC/Lists/Seminars/DispForm.aspx?ID=1225.