The Goals of Public-Private Partnership
The development of educational infrastructure through public-private partnership instruments is governed in Georgia by the Law on Public and Private Cooperation. Article 3 of that law defines the goals of cooperation: increasing the effectiveness of projects; satisfying the public interest through the creation of new public infrastructure and/or the provision of public services and/or the improvement of existing ones; attracting private financing; increasing the effectiveness of the expenditure of public finances; the distribution of risks between the public and private sectors; and the use of the private partner’s know-how.
In the educational context these goals take a concrete form: the construction of new schools, campuses and learning spaces, the rehabilitation of existing institutions and the raising of the quality of services with private resources, balancing the fiscal burden of the state. Knowledge of the goals of the law is the first filter in preparing the concept of a project — a project that does not serve these goals will not pass the approval stage.
The Sectors and the Place of an Educational Project
Article 6 of the law defines the sectors of cooperation broadly: public-private cooperation may be carried out in any sector of public infrastructure and public services, unless otherwise determined by the Government of Georgia. The Government may further define priority sectors where cooperation is particularly welcome.
The sphere of education is a natural part of this frame: schools, educational institutions and learning infrastructure are classic examples of public infrastructure and public services. The norm of sectoral openness also means that the concept of a project need not overcome any sectoral prohibition — the only question is whether the project fits into the priority frameworks.
The Project and the Stages of Its Implementation
Article 11 of the law provides that a public-private partnership project is implemented in accordance with the process defined by law, which comprises several stages: the identification and initiation of the project, its preparation, the selection of the private partner, the implementation of the project and the post-implementation assessment.
For an educational project this staged structure creates a practical guide: from the idea of expanding a school network to the commissioning of a functioning school, each step corresponds to a procedure provided for by law. Experience shows that skipping stages or incompletely documenting their results is blocked at the selection or approval stage, which is why the output of each stage must be planned in advance.