Governments are increasingly looking to Public Private Partnerships to solve the ever growing demand for new hospitals in Australia. Despite growing confidence in the PPP model, governments have traditionally excluded delivery of Information Communications Technology (ICT) systems in new hospitals from PPP contracts. Hospitals’ ICT systems are complex and critical to patient well-being. As such, governments have chosen to maintain control over ICT system procurement and maintenance. However, t...

This article describes the Polish law regulating the field of Public Private Partnerships, in order to define the influence of this relatively new formula on public debt. By law, the total debt from a unit of local government at the end of the financial year may not exceed 60 % of its overall income in the current fiscal year. However, the principles governing the inclusion of expenses stemming from PPP agreements into public debt are not clearly defined, which constitutes a basic flaw of the le...

In this article the authors analyse some innovations of the Portuguese Public Procurement Code in relation to the European Union Public Contracts Directives (Directive 2004/17/CE and Directive 2004/18/CE), with a view to providing the reader with a general overview of such Code. Moreover, the authors describe all measures that will be implemented by the Portuguese Government, as well as the changes already implemented following the Memorandum of Understanding (in connection with the internationa...

European States are changing their role and their responsibilities in the process of delivering public services. Recent developments have shown that public services require state intervention for their provision, organisation and delivery. Public services often emerge and interface in a sui generis market place which does not correspond to private markets. This axiom implies the relative inability of anti-trust law and policy to regulate this market place, alongside an overwhelming need for safe...