GROWING THE NETWORK: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
Public-Private-People Integration (3Pi) initiatives have provided strong learning opportunities for government agencies venturing into the relatively new frontier of public service delivery through commercial portals. Some of the key challenges that public agencies have had to grapple with include:

Sustainability of the business model:
In a 3Pi project, particularly one that is initiated by the Government, the choice of commercial partner(s) is vital. The chosen partner should have a clearly viable business model or the project will be doomed to failure. Several unsuccessful attempts at 3Pi projects began with the Government providing seed funding to start up the project (usually a portal business). The partner, who more often than not was selected based on technical competence and not business acumen, continued to rely on Government funding to sustain the portal business long beyond rollout. The burden to sustain the commercial portal (especially since the Government’s own portal had ceased operation) outstripped the benefits that had been brought about through the 3Pi approach.

Consumer awareness of government versus commercial content:
While government agencies are free to collaborate with their chosen private sector partner to deliver bundled services, it is necessary to ensure that the consumer can distinguish between government content and commercial content. This is because the Government can only be accountable for its own information and services, and a clear understanding by the consumer of limits and caveats is necessary. This also posts creative and practical limitations on the ways in which Government and commercial can be combined and presented.

Exclusivity:
The Government generally does not grant exclusivity in its engagement with commercial vendors, as it still wants to retain the option of engaging other partners. However, commercial partners frequently prefer to negotiate for an exclusive engagement, as it provides protection against competition and gives a certain assurance of business demand. In fact, some commercial partners view this as a critical success factor for the partnership to flourish.

Despite these challenges, public agencies who have engaged in 3Pi projects have gained valuable insight into business thinking, modelling and marketing. Businesses have also come to appreciate the Government’s need to strike a balance between creative flexibility and public accountability. These experiences continue to reap benefits for public-private sector relations well beyond the scope of the specific project. – Karen Wong