By transferring risks and responsibilities to the private sector, governments hope that public–private partnerships (PPPs) bring about innovations in transport infrastructure development. Taking the position that a PPP is not equal to outsourcing, this article explores the role of the public partner in innovation in infrastructure PPPs. To this purpose, nine Design-Build-Finance-Maintain (DBFM) projects in Dutch transport infrastructure development were systematically analyzed with qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The results show that the presence of innovation is associated with multiple, nonexclusive combinations of three conditions: the procurement result of the partnership contract, the composition of the private construction consortium, and the project management by the public partner (i.e., stakeholder management, technical management, and contract management). In particular, the public partner’s choice to enter into a PPP with a construction consortium consisting of a small number of firms is associated with innovation.

中文翻译：

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公共合作伙伴在交通基础设施 PPP 创新中的作用：九个荷兰 DBFM 项目的定性比较分析

通过将风险和责任转移给私营部门，政府希望公私伙伴关系 (PPP) 带来交通基础设施发展的创新。本文站在 PPP 不等于外包的立场，探讨公共合作伙伴在基础设施 PPP 创新中的作用。为此，通过定性比较分析 (QCA) 系统地分析了荷兰交通基础设施发展中的九个设计-建造-融资-维护 (DBFM) 项目。结果表明，创新的存在与三个条件的多重、非排他性组合相关：合伙合同的采购结果、私人建筑联合体的组成以及公共合作伙伴的项目管理（即利益相关者管理、技术管理、合同管理）。特别是，公共合作伙伴选择与由少数公司组成的建筑财团签订 PPP 与创新有关。