Do Public Private Partnerships in public administration need an overhaul?

Within a context of growing challenges to modernise Portugal’s public administration, Foundever has presented a new guide do best practices that proposes a rejigging of the cooperation model between the State and private sector.

The document pinpointed a significant evolution collaborative model between the State and companies.

Traditional approaches of outsourcing that mainly aim to cut costs by outsourcing non-essential functions are now overall giving way to what the guide calls ‘shared value partnerships’.

In these new partnerships, moves away from simple services contracting to a strategic collaboration where both parties contribute with know-how and resources to achieve common goals.

Specifically, these partnerships are manifested through initiatives such as joint innovation labs, where public and private sector teams work side by side to develop solutions; mixed teams that integrate civil servants and external specialists in specific projects and new financing models that condition the remuneration of private partners to obtain concrete and measurable results, instead of fixed payments for services provided.

The report identifies five priority areas to transform public services:

Citizen-centric services with predictive capabilities: Platforms that anticipate citizens’ needs based on life events, and proactively offer relevant services, even before they are requested.

Complementary artificial intelligence systems: Technologies that extend the capabilities of civil servants, and allow them to focus on higher-value tasks while AI automates repetitive processes.

Interoperable data infrastructures: Systems that facilitate the secure sharing of information between entities, and that ensure that the State maintains control over all sensitive data.

Adaptive security systems: Evolving cybersecurity mechanisms that respond to new threats, and that use AI to detect suspicious patterns and adapt defenses in real time.

Agile methodologies for European funds: Flexible approaches to the implementation of EU-funded projects, which allow for rapid adjustments and greater transparency in implementation.

In management contract matters, the guide suggests an innovative approach based on three pillars:

Service level agreements that evolve over time according to needs (instead of rigid contracts defined at the start.

Public control panels that show in real time the performance of public private partnerships in key metrics.

Mechanisms that allow citizens to directly evaluate services and suggest improvements in a continuous feedback cycle.

Pedro Santos, Country Leader of Foundever in Portugal, believes that “government continuity allows us to move towards a platform-state model, where public administration acts as the orchestrator of a distributed innovation ecosystem.”

He also argues that “Portugal has the opportunity to become a laboratory for government innovation in Europe” and that these partnerships can “create opportunities for Portuguese startups and technology SMEs to participate in the transformation of the public sector.

Photo: Supplied