Arguments from the book, previewed one at a time
Here we collect topics and background from Beyond PPP: on Section 7 BHO, client-side competence, AI in public administration, and related topics. This page is updated continuously.
Published
Decide
Self-deliver, or bring in the market?When In-House Delivery Costs More Than Partnership
Why a genuine value-for-money assessment must account for delay, opportunity, and quality costs.
Shape
How the partnership is structured and governed.The EEG: A Partnership Without a Contract
How a state price guarantee, without a classic PPP contract, pushed the renewables share from 7 to over 50 percent.
TopicWhen Thrift Becomes the Most Expensive Option
The Federal Court of Audit finds a 47 percent cost overrun on major federal IT projects, and one structural cause lies in the thrift principle itself.
Secure
How the benefit stays with the state.The AI Dividend the State Never Sees
Generative AI saves the public sector up to 14 billion euro a year, except that money almost never reaches the state.
Topics
Morality over efficiency
German procurement practice calculates almost exclusively on the bid price, delays and rework from in-house delivery usually stay unbilled. Section 7(2) of the Federal Budget Code has long required a full value-for-money assessment, it is rarely applied with any rigor. Read the essay →
Who gets the AI dividend?
Generative AI saves vendors billions a year in productivity costs across the public IT market, under classic time-and-materials contracts, that entire sum stays with the vendor. Outcome-based procurement can bring part of it back to the state. Read the essay →
A partnership without a contract
The EEG allocates risk like a partnership, with no classic PPP contract at all: the investor carries the technology and execution risk, the state carries the market-price risk. Over 23 years, the share of renewables rose from under 7 to over 50 percent. Read the essay →
When thrift gets expensive
13 major federal IT projects came in 47 percent more expensive on average than their award price. Innovation partnerships and output-based specification have long been legally available, yet are rarely used. Read the essay →