The first part of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) training series hosted by the PPP Center, took place on  Friday, 05 March 2021 through a “PPP 101” preparatory session. Members from the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) and the Sustained Support for Local Space Technology & Applications Mastery, Innovation and Advancement (STAMINA4Space) program were invited to the webinar. Orienting the agency and program members on the PPPs concepts and processes for the projects of PhilSA was the webinar session’s main goal. 

PPPs are defined as a contractual arrangement between the government and a private partner focusing on the financing, construction, and consequent  operations and maintenance of projects that were traditionally provided by the public sector. Apart from the delivery of critical assets and infrastructures, PPPs are pursued in order to provide the basic public services. The rules and guiding principles in developing, evaluating and implementing PPP Projects are provided by the Build-Operate-Transfer Law (BOT) Law or Republic Act No. 6957. 

Resource speakers from the PPP Center were Director Feroisa Francisca T. Concordia and Ms. Dionne Marga M. Larin who shared their knowledge on PPPs and provided an overview of the PPP project stages. Members from the PhilSA and STAMINA4Space interacted with the speakers by asking questions regarding the capacity building process.

After the open forum, the PhilSA team tackled the draft concepts of the projects which shall be proposed for PPP financing. First to be discussed was the assembly and launching of an earth observation satellite with a multispectral imager. The satellite project presented is capable of providing data products that can serve a wide variety of applications  that could advance the execution of PhilSA’s initiatives that are inspired by the agency’s Key Development Areas (KDAs), particularly climate studies as well as national security and development. The satellite is expected to have a mission lifetime of at least five years.  Further, the know-how and satellite technologies gained through the project can be used to customize and build future satellites locally. This can support potential longer-term implementation of the project by enabling us to build more satellites that can work as a constellation capable of providing vital information for the Filipinos.

The second project involves the development of a Space Science Complex that will be lodged at  PhilSA’s Main Headquarter in New Clark City. The envisioned complex shall comprise of research and development laboratories and integrated testing facilities to help PhilSA to execute its mandates.

About the PPP Center

The PPP Center is mandated to facilitate the implementation of the country’s PPP Program and Projects. It serves as the main driver of the PPP Program and the central coordinating and monitoring agency for all PPP projects in the Philippines. The PPP Center enables implementing agencies through various capacity building activities and provides technical assistance to national government agencies (NGAs), government-owned-and controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), state universities and colleges (SUCs), and local government units (LGUs) as well as to the private sector to help develop and implement critical infrastructure and other development projects.