PPP Contract Negotiation and Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends PPP Unit Managers, Contract Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PIF-003

Before you join: Participants should have practical familiarity with public procurement, infrastructure projects, concession agreements or contract administration.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

PPP contracts must remain workable long after financial close. Public authorities need to protect service quality, affordability and public value while managing a private partner’s contractual rights, lender interests, performance claims and requests for change. Poorly drafted negotiation positions, weak records, unclear decision authority or delayed action on service failures can create avoidable cost, disputes and operational disruption. These issues arise in transport, hospitals, schools, water, energy, accommodation and municipal service concessions.

This course develops the contract-side skills required to negotiate, administer and improve PPP agreements. Participants examine payment mechanisms, output specifications, risk allocation, lender protections, performance deductions, variations, compensation events, refinancing, dispute escalation and handback obligations. They learn to prepare a negotiation mandate and BATNA analysis, test contractual provisions against financial and operational consequences, establish governance arrangements, assess claims and control changes without weakening value for money or procurement integrity.

Instruction combines focused briefings with contract clause analysis, sector cases, facilitated group work, negotiation simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect the decisions faced by procuring authorities and contract management teams: disputed service deductions, delayed approvals, demand shortfalls, change requests, refinancing proposals and handback risks. Participants leave with reusable templates for negotiation preparation, risk allocation, contract management, performance monitoring, variation assessment and dispute escalation, plus a certificate of completion. The course is particularly suited to public officials and advisers who manage existing PPPs or prepare for commercial negotiations before financial close.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret PPP payment mechanisms, risk allocation and lender protections
  • Prepare a negotiation mandate, BATNA analysis and issue-prioritisation matrix
  • Assess contractual risk using risk registers, scenario analysis and allocation principles
  • Establish contract governance using RACI matrices, decision rights and reporting cycles
  • Monitor service performance through KPIs, deductions, inspections and cure plans
  • Evaluate variations, compensation events and change-control decisions
  • Manage claims and disputes through notices, escalation ladders and settlement analysis
  • Produce a contract management plan for a live or proposed PPP agreement

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Lead PPP negotiations with a defined mandate, BATNA and concession strategy
  • Read payment and risk clauses with stronger commercial judgement
  • Challenge unsupported variation requests and compensation claims
  • Run performance reviews using evidence, KPIs and contractual remedies
  • Build a credible record for progression into PPP contract management roles

For your organisation

  • Better protection of public value during PPP negotiations and renegotiations
  • Earlier identification of contingent liabilities, claims and termination exposure
  • More consistent decisions on performance deductions, variations and compensation events
  • Stronger contract records supporting audit scrutiny and dispute defence
  • Improved service continuity through planned escalation, step-in and handback controls

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can interpret the principal commercial relationships and contractual documents within a PPP structure.

  • PPP delivery models, revenue sources, and contractual risk allocation principles
  • Distinguishing availability-payment, user-pay, and hybrid payment mechanisms
  • Project lifecycle decisions from feasibility through handback and expiry
  • Public authority, project company, lenders, and contractor roles mapped
  • Reading concession agreements, direct agreements, and interface schedules
  • Bankability requirements linked to predictable revenues and enforceable remedies

Participants can assess whether output specifications and payment mechanisms create clear, controllable performance obligations.

  • Output specifications translated into measurable service and asset requirements
  • Payment mechanisms connecting performance deductions, abatements, and incentives
  • Key performance indicators tested for data sources and controllability
  • Service failure definitions aligned with cure periods and escalation paths
  • Handback standards, surveys, and lifecycle reserve obligations examined
  • Change-in-law clauses separated by discriminatory, specific, and general events

Participants can prepare and execute a disciplined negotiation strategy for PPP contractual issues.

  • Negotiation mandate, BATNA, reservation point, and authority limits defined
  • Interest-based bargaining applied alongside positional negotiating tactics
  • Prioritising issues through a negotiation matrix of value and risk
  • Concession, trade-off, and package-deal strategies structured before sessions
  • Agenda control, caucusing, and minute-taking disciplines during negotiations
  • Negotiation ethics, confidentiality, and probity obligations managed

Participants can test risk allocation and identify contractual exposures requiring active management.

  • Risk allocation matrix tested against control, consequence, and insurance availability
  • Risk registers scored using likelihood, impact, owner, and response fields
  • Force majeure thresholds, relief events, and compensation events differentiated
  • Political risk, currency risk, and demand risk allocated deliberately
  • Contingent liabilities quantified through scenario analysis and exposure registers
  • Insurance schedules reviewed for deductibles, exclusions, and claims responsibilities

Participants can connect contractual decisions to debt service, lender rights and termination payments.

  • Financial model outputs interpreted for debt service and shareholder returns
  • Debt service coverage ratio linked to payment mechanism sensitivity
  • Base case, downside case, and break-even assumptions challenged
  • Refinancing gain-sharing clauses and lender consent triggers assessed
  • Termination payment formulas traced under default and force majeure
  • Monitoring lender step-in rights, security packages, and direct agreements

Participants can establish governance, decision rights and document controls for effective PPP administration.

  • Contract management plan assigns decision rights, records, and reporting cycles
  • Governance boards distinguish operational issues from reserved authority decisions
  • RACI matrices clarify authority, consultation, escalation, and approval routes
  • Mobilisation milestones tracked through conditions precedent and readiness evidence
  • Document control protocols protect notices, variations, and audit trails
  • Stakeholder engagement plans address users, regulators, communities, and ministries

Participants can monitor PPP service performance and apply proportionate contractual remedies.

  • Performance dashboards combine KPI results, deductions, incidents, and trends
  • Validating operator data through sampling, inspections, and independent certification
  • Monthly contract reviews separate root causes from recurring symptoms
  • Applying service credits, warning notices, and cure plans proportionately
  • Lifecycle asset management monitored against condition surveys and handback obligations
  • Benchmarking and market-testing provisions prepared for scheduled review points

Participants can evaluate changes and document decisions that preserve affordability and contractual rights.

  • Change requests logged with scope, rationale, urgency, and authority
  • Variation valuation separates capital cost, operating cost, and financing effects
  • Compensation events assessed against notice requirements and contemporaneous records
  • Change control boards test affordability, value for money, and risk
  • Re-baselining performance standards after approved scope or technology changes
  • Managing unauthorized change through reservation-of-rights correspondence and escalation

Participants can manage claims and disputes while protecting service continuity and contractual evidence.

  • Early-warning notices frame issues before positions harden into disputes
  • Claim files organised around clauses, facts, notices, and quantum
  • Negotiated settlement evaluated against litigation, arbitration, and relationship costs
  • Dispute escalation ladders use senior negotiation, mediation, and adjudication
  • Independent expert determination applied to technical measurement and valuation questions
  • Termination and step-in options assessed against service continuity plans

Participants can plan recurring contract reviews and prioritise actions throughout the PPP lifecycle.

  • Annual contract management calendar aligns reviews, certificates, and decision deadlines
  • Contract health checks identify control gaps, unresolved claims, and exposure
  • Lessons-learned reviews convert incidents into revised procedures and clauses
  • Renegotiation triggers assessed without undermining competition, transparency, or affordability
  • Handback preparation begins with asset data, condition baselines, and reserves
  • Personal application plans set first actions, owners, and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. PPP negotiation mandate and BATNA worksheet
  2. Risk allocation matrix and risk register
  3. PPP contract management plan template
  4. Performance dashboard and KPI evidence checklist
  5. Variation assessment and change-control form
  6. Dispute escalation and service continuity checklist

Who should attend

  • PPP Unit Managers — need to lead negotiations and oversee contract portfolios
  • Contract Managers — need to administer performance, changes and disputes effectively
  • Procurement Managers — need to convert procurement commitments into workable contracts
  • Infrastructure Project Directors — need to control commercial decisions after financial close
  • Public Finance Officials — need to monitor contingent liabilities and affordability exposure
  • Legal Advisers — need to connect contractual clauses with operational and financial consequences

Skills and tools covered

PPP contract negotiationRisk allocation analysisPayment mechanism managementContract governancePerformance monitoringDispute resolution

Tools and standards

World Bank PPP Reference Guide, ISO 31000 Risk Management, FIDIC Conditions of Contract, NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce PPP contract structures, followed by clause-based case work, group analysis and facilitated discussion. Participants assess realistic issues involving payment deductions, change requests, delayed approvals, refinancing and service failures. Negotiation simulations develop mandate setting, issue trading, caucusing and minute-taking skills. Contract management scenarios require participants to interpret evidence, select remedies and decide escalation routes. Each participant completes an application plan linked to a current or anticipated PPP contract responsibility.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with public procurement, infrastructure projects, concession agreements or contract administration. They should be comfortable reading commercial contract clauses and discussing project risks, payment terms and stakeholder responsibilities. Experience of a PPP, PFI, concession, availability-payment project or major outsourced service contract is useful. The course does not require legal qualification, financial modelling expertise, prior negotiation training or detailed knowledge of a specific national PPP law. Participants may bring a non-confidential contract extract or current contract issue for reference.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand the basics of procurement, contracts or infrastructure project delivery. Prior PPP experience is useful but not essential, and legal or financial modelling qualifications are not required.

Bring a non-confidential contract extract, performance issue or proposed negotiation topic if one is available. Participants can apply the templates to a realistic issue without sharing restricted information.

It is designed for public-sector PPP staff, contract managers, procurement professionals, finance officials, project directors and legal advisers. Private-sector participants involved in concession or availability-payment contracts will also benefit.

Project finance courses focus primarily on financial structuring, bankability and funding. This course concentrates on negotiating contract terms and managing the agreement after award and financial close.

Participants receive practical templates for negotiation preparation, governance, performance management, variations and disputes. These can be adapted to an existing contract, a procurement in progress or a planned PPP.

The five days provide about 32.5 contact hours, normally from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided across ten modules covering negotiation, risk, finance, governance, performance, changes, disputes and long-term contract control.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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