BILL NO. 162

(as introduced)

1st Session, 64th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
71 Elizabeth II, 2022

 

Private Member's Bill

 

Public Procurement Act
(amended)

 

Susan Leblanc
Dartmouth North

First Reading: April 13, 2022

(Explanatory Notes)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

Explanatory Notes

Clause 1 adds a definition of "public-private partnership".

Clause 2 prohibits a public sector entity from entering into a public-private partnership unless the public sector entity has published, at least two months prior to issuing a public tender notice, a full lifetime cost projection of delivering the project using a public-private partnership compared to a purely public alternative.

Clause 3 allows the Governor in Council to make regulations

(a) respecting the publication of a full lifetime cost projection of delivering a project using a public-private partnership compared to a purely public alternative; and

(b) prescribing a type of arrangement as a public-private partnership.

An Act to Amend Chapter 12
of the Acts of 2011,
the Public Procurement Act,
Respecting Transparency
in Public-private Partnerships

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Section 3 of Chapter 12 of the Acts of 2011, the Public Procurement Act, as amended by Chapter 34 of the Acts of 2014 and Schedule A of Chapter 1 of the Acts of 2018, is further amended by adding immediately after clause (o) the following clause:

(oa) "public-private partnership" means a contractual arrangement between a public sector entity and a private sector entity for the procurement of a public work or improvement to a public work that
(i) is an arrangement under which
(A) the private sector entity assumes responsibility for all or substantially all of at least two of the following aspects of the project:
(I) its design,

(II) its construction,

(III) the long-term private sector financing for its construction,

(IV) the activities related to its long-term operation,

(V) its long-term maintenance,

(B) at least one of the aspects of the project for which the private sector entity assumes responsibility is its long-term operation or maintenance, or the long-term financing for its construction, and

(C) ownership of the public work or the improvements, as the case may be, where held by the private sector entity, is transferred to the public sector entity or the public sector entity has the option of acquiring title during or at the end of the term of the arrangement, or

(ii) is a type of arrangement prescribed by the regulations;

2 Chapter 12 is further amended by adding immediately after Section 12 the following Section:

12A (1) No public sector entity shall enter into a public-private partnership respecting

(a) construction of any public work;

(b) the purchase, operation or maintenance of any public work;

(c) the public financing of a work that is privately owned or would become privately owned; or

(d) a mortgage,

unless the public sector entity has published, at least two months prior to issuing a public tender notice, a full lifetime cost projection of delivering the project using a public-private partnership compared to a purely public alternative.

(2) The full lifetime cost projection referred to in subsection (1) must include specifications of any transfers of risk, if any, and the reasons for those transfers of risk.

3 Subsection 19(1) of Chapter 12 is amended by adding immediately after clause (f) the following clauses:

(fa) respecting the procedures and content of the publication of a full lifetime cost projection of delivering a project using a public-private partnership compared to a purely public alternative pursuant to Section 12A;

(fb) prescribing a type of arrangement as a public-private partnership;

 

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This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2022 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created April 13, 2022. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.