Public-Private Partnerships

Numerous federal agencies and state and local governments have turned to our Public-Private Partnership (P3) Team to conceive, create and execute P3 projects. At the same time, investors, lenders, developers and other private sector companies have relied on Holland & Knight lawyers and public policy advisors for legal counsel and advocacy of their varied interests in P3 projects. We consequently understand every aspect of a P3 project — not merely the legal technicalities, but also how every party involved in the deal may be strategizing and negotiating to advance their interests.

Holland & Knight’s P3 Team combines real-world legal skills with deep knowledge about how government agencies work — from their legislative and decision-making processes and political environments to financing tools, governing laws and public relations concerns. Our P3 Team leverages this in-depth understanding when counseling clients on both sides of P3 issues —agencies embarking on P3 projects as well as the private entities with whom they partner.

Our P3 Team also understands what it takes for a private entity to structure and execute a P3 project: the standard contract provisions, pressure points, leverage, negotiation techniques and financing options. We represent companies large and small in the many intricate components of various types of P3 projects, and we know how to help P3 partners move from ideas to execution.

The Latest Innovations in Structuring and Finance

In lean economic times, government agencies are relying more than ever on the private sector to help them accomplish goals that might otherwise fall victim to diminished tax revenue and budget reductions. Holland & Knight has critical public procurement and public finance know-how, and our experience includes a varied range of public-private collaborations.

With this deep and wide-ranging experience, we can assist you with every detail of a P3 project, whether involving procurement laws, real estate, public finance, environmental regulation or tax. We are fully versed in all issues facing both public and private parties in all types of infrastructure arrangements, including privatizations, public-private partnerships, concessions, leases and alternative public-private funding structures. We also have experience with diverse P3 models ranging from the short term to longer-term arrangements and with different types of funding streams.

Transactional Services Tailored for Each Step of Your P3 Project

Our guidance extends from conception of a P3 project through every step to completion — from qualification to bid to early development, design and construction planning, to drafting all contracts and related documents, through P3 finance, project negotiation and construction. Our attorneys have confronted the myriad issues impacting infrastructure development, including the practical, political and environmental challenges (to name just a few). We help our clients anticipate, navigate and overcome obstacles to a successful partnership.

Diverse Initiatives and Multi-Sector Representation

Our P3 Team has diverse experience that spans numerous project types and industry sectors. Some of the public-private partnership initiatives and transactions in which we have achieved successful outcomes for clients include:

• international airport joint ventures: both formation and structuring of joint venture groups and negotiation, and preparation of agreements involving environmental laws, public-private funding and payment mechanisms
• power facilities: specifically the acquisition of government-owned facilities by private utilities; notably, one utility's sale of its publicly owned power facility to a privately regulated power company
• leasing as a public-private funding technique: including the analysis of the state and local tax law aspects of financing through lease, lease purchase, leveraged lease and related techniques
• toll roads and rail systems: involving the analysis and planning for private toll and high-speed rail systems owned privately, but supported publicly
• hospital facilities: including a highly successful, complex privatized joint venture between a county hospital authority and a private nonprofit organization
• commercial and residential development and redevelopment projects 

Other privatizations that round out our portfolio and showcase capabilities we can apply to your projects involve waste systems, parking facilities, sports stadiums, convention centers, and gateway and plaza facilities, among others.

Florida Projects

Whether in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., or anywhere in-between, Holland & Knight’s P3 Team can help you. Even as our firm has grown nationally and internationally, we maintain our strong presence in Florida, where navigating P3 projects can be particularly challenging. Our active involvement has included:

• working with issuers throughout the state in matters impacting public-private funding
• acting as special bond counsel for the state on the first privatization of a Florida state prison
• serving as Florida counsel to a proposer team on major roadway improvement projects by the Florida Department of Transportation
• serving as Florida counsel to a proposer team in connection with the proposed lease of an existing toll road by the Florida Department of Transportation