Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
€12,000. For the project. Not the lawyers.
|
Apparently, Poland has a PPP project with a CAPEX of €12,000. I haven’t forgotten any zeros. Twelve thousand euros. A colleague of mine in Poland told me the story. My first thought? Surely the lawyers cost ten times more. I haven’t seen their invoices. But, I would say… Please don’t send me a legal letter. It might double the project budget. But seriously. You know I work in PPPs. I like them. I’ve spent more than 20 years bidding, delivering and managing them. And sometimes, the most useful advice I can give you is: “Please don’t make this project a PPP.” Look. The objective is (or should be) to deliver something useful. Somewhere along the way, we occasionally forget that and start delivering a procurement process instead… (Especially politicians that make infrastructure and the way it should be delivered, an ideological battle… but that’s for another day) Advisers. Studies. Dialogue sessions. Contracts. Reviews of the contracts. Wonderful. Everyone is busy. But does the project actually justify all of this? Now, CAPEX alone doesn’t tell the whole story. A small investment could sit within a much larger service contract. Fair enough. You still need to demonstrate that the benefits justify the cost and complexity. Preferably before commissioning 300 pages explaining why they do. If you’re the person approving the budget, this matters. Eventually, someone may ask why you spent so much deciding how to buy something that cost so little… If not… you could be in New Zealand where spending hundreds of millions of dollars in business cases and feasibility studies is national sport… OK… I exaggerate… head to head with rugby… “The advisers recommended it” is unlikely to be your finest boardroom moment. So… Before asking how to structure your PPP, ask whether it should be one at all. That is a good conversation to have early. If you’re considering a PPP and want a straight conversation about whether it makes sense, book a First Call. Click below. Preferably before the legal team starts billing.
​
PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
In 2009, French composer Maurice Jarre died. An Irish student called Shane Fitzgerald decided to give him something to say. Very generous. So… He invented a quote and added it to Jarre’s Wikipedia page. Newspapers picked it up for their obituaries. Lovely words. Right person. Perfect timing. Only one small problem. Jarre had never said them. The source was a student with an internet connection… unchecked. Apparently, that was enough to become an internationally published authority on what a...
Tony Robbins made a point that stayed with me. When you believe something won’t work, you barely try. Then the results disappoint. And you say: “See? I knew it.” Congratulations. You have successfully proved a theory you barely tested. We do this with businesses. Careers. Difficult projects. “I’m not ready for that role.” “They would never hire us.” “This team will never change.” Sometimes we call it experience. Sometimes it’s fear wearing a very respectable suit. And yes, in infrastructure,...
Yesterday, I paid my house insurance again. The house is still standing. Nothing burned down. Another year of terrible returns. I should complain. Which brings me to New Zealand’s proposed LNG import facility. Interesting project… So, of course… Everyone has an opinion. Too expensive. Ridiculous. Essential. A disaster. And that’s before anyone opens the spreadsheet. Here is how I look at projects like this one. An insurance policy. Domestic gas supplies are declining. When the hydro lakes run...