Decision making model for determining procurement method within public-private partnership framework for airport projects

Public-private partnership (PPP) is the most important strategy mechanisms of project development. Adoption of PPP procurement as a strategy for infrastructure projects, such as airports, highways, bridges, water supplies, and telecommunication, has been implemented in developed and developing countries. PPP is expected to achieve added value for money through transparent procurement and the best quality of service. Although, PPPs are very complex and expensive, the success of these projects ensures significant outcomes for governmental organizations and practitioners. A comprehensive review of the literature on the critical success factors, risk factors and the decision-making tools of PPP projects not only aims to reveal the importance of these factors, it also shows the lack of a comprehensive decision-making model for determining an appropriate PPP procurement method. Airport projects in Turkey, in particular, constitute of some of the most capital demanding infrastructures and the level of key performance indicators (KPIs) to which these investments are subjected to is a great significance. On this basis, KPIs of PPP projects in developing countries (Turkey) and the selection of appropriate PPP procurement method for infrastructure projects, particularly for airport projects are critical issues that need to be analysed and investigated. Data for this study have been collected through a questionnaire with working in states and private PPP experts in Turkey. 20 CSFs and 46 risk factors of PPP projects have been clarified from an extensive systematic literature review. The questionnaire survey conducted on 167 experts of which 67 of them responded to PPP projects of airports from both public and the private sector in Turkey. This study presents a methodology approach for a Decision-Making Model (DMM) to determine the best PPP procurement method considering KPIs for PPP airports projects for developing countries based on a case study. The model is expected to be used for infrastructure projects, mostly for airports. The DMM is structured on the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods, basically AHP and PROMETHEE approach, which starts with the AHP method to prioritize and determine weights of the criteria for a specific case study (New Antalya airport - Turkey). PROMETHEE method is used to obtain final ranking for the alternatives. The AHP results revealed that the most important criteria for PPP airport projects in Turkey based on the case study are; finance risks; stability; operation risks; project and process quality; legal framework and regulatory risks; construction risks; project planning and strategy; transparent managements; and environmental and force majeure risks. Furthermore, the best PPP procurement method for new Antalya airport projects are obtained and ranked based on importance and listed as; build-operate-transfer (BOT); build-own-operate model (BOO); build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT); long-term-rent (LTR); and concession model. The validation of this methodology and the DMM by the experts from both sectors show that, they are an effective way for PPP procurement selection and they can be applied for the developing countries. They are an applicable, universal and testable which can be adopted as a tool and contribute to decision-makers to select the best fit PPP procurement method for airports projects in order to enhance projects successfully.