The Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha highlighted the critical need for mechanisms for supporting the Post-Award Contract Management and welcomed the initiatives of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance in this regard. He said that the mechanisms developed by the DEA will equip Project Authorities in providing adequate guidance and online interactive toolkits for effective and proactive management of PPP projects. He reiterated the Government’s commitment towards leveraging PPPs for enhancing the speed of development, capacity, reach, and improving the quality of infrastructure and public services. He shared some of the recent initiatives of the Government in addressing the challenges pertaining to PPPs. Shri Sinha was speaking after launching the DEA’s Guidance Material for Post-Award Contract Management of PPP projects, at an event here today. The event was attended among others by the Senior Government officials from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Roads Transport & Highways, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Human Resource Development, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and, representatives from the State Governments Departments involved in PPP projects and PPP nodal agencies of various States.
The Minister of State for FinanceShri Sinha suggested that the scope of the guidance material may be expanded to cover other sector and may evolve as a one-stop resource base for all Project Authorities for Post-Award Contract Management. He encouraged the Project Authorities at the central, state and municipal level involved in PPPs to use the material for effective management of PPP and to provide feedback. Earlier, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance had developed Post-Award Contract Management Guidance Material, which includes, Guidelines, Manuals and Online Toolkits. While the guidelines provide key principles of Post-Award Contract Management of PPP projects, they have been further adapted to sector specific Manuals based on the contractual obligations enshrined in the concession agreements. The various obligations, roles and responsibilities are based on those identified in the model concession agreement. These are further supported by an interactive web-based toolkit, which is easily accessible through DEA’s PPP Cell website, i.e. pppinindia.com, and has been designed to provide practical application-oriented assistance to Project Authorities in undertaking project management.