Chapter 8. The Netherlands

The competing public values of quality, responsibility, and responsiveness play a leading role. In the Dutch case, quality concerns the realization of public infrastructure to improve the Dutch economy or mobility objectives, in cases of specific projects. The classic iron triangle of project values, aimed at the realization of a project by balancing time, budget, scope, and quality strongly relates to the perception of projects as a success or failure. Responsibility and responsiveness are procedural public values. Responsibility concerns the extent to which both public and private partners comply with the contractual agreements and output specifications agreed at the start of the PPP project. Responsiveness implies the ability of the partners to influence and adjust contractual agreements and output specifications before and after contract closure, to deal with unexpected developments and new insights. The chapter discusses the emergence of DBFM (design, build, finance, maintain) contracts in Dutch road and water infrastructure megaprojects and analyses how public values transpired in a less and a more successful megaproject. The second case was less successful due to the emphasis on the value of responsibility. Attempts to keep parties to the agreed strict division of responsibilities did not resolve conflicts between the public and private partners. The first project focused on relational contracting and building a resilient partnership to find the right balance between responsibility and responsiveness. Managing competing public values entails coping strategies that overcome zero sum-situations and that realize synergies, not building firewalls but enhancing responsiveness and capacity to learn and adapt.