As higher education institutions continue to face a variety of challenges in delivering their core infrastructure needs in innovative, cost-effective ways, many have turned to alternative project delivery models, such as public-private partnerships (P3), to upgrade their existing facilities and deliver major campus expansions.  Last month, more than 600 higher education and industry leaders congregated in San Diego at the 2023 P3 Higher Education Summit to discuss ways to utilize P3 as a means of project delivery and the latest industry trends in the higher education context.

Nossaman’s Patrick Harder moderated a panel discussion centered around how universities can use key performance indicators (KPI) in their P3 projects to create more opportunities for positive community engagement (“Using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to Help Universities Have More Community Engagement”).  For example, KPIs related to the participation of disadvantaged business enterprises on a project can promote diversity and equity and have other positive social impacts on the local community.

A key takeaway from the discussion was that these community engagement KPIs must be measurable in order to be enforceable.  However, the KPI targets must also be flexible enough to allow “wiggle room” for unpredictable events that can happen throughout the lifespan of a long-term project.

During the discussion, Patrick noted that the balance between measurability and flexibility that is critical to the success of a project is achievable not just through progressive P3 models but also through more traditional P3 models.

Nossaman’s Yukiko Kojima and Frank Liu also attended the summit and moderated separate panel discussions.  Descriptions of their panels can be found here.