Public Water in Private Hands

A Case Study on the Safeguarding of Public Values in the First DBFMO in the Dutch Water Sector

Abstract

In DBFMO projects, public procurers transfer to private consortia the responsibility for designing,
building, financing, maintaining, and operating public assets. Although DBFMOs are
criticized for their possible threat to the safeguarding of public values, the Dutch government
recently procured Europe’s biggest waste water purification plant according to DBFMO principles.
This article poses two questions: to what extent are transparency, responsibility, and quality
safeguarded in the waste water case and what factors are influential in this. The findings provide
grounds for modest optimism. Tools such as output specifications, the long-term contract,
performance monitoring, and the adequate way in which cooperation between the procurer and
consortium has been managed have provided considerable opportunities for the safeguarding of
all three values.