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New Engagements
PB Consult has been selected to develop a strategic plan for the RTA that will present a mobility Vision for the Chicago region.
PB Consult has been selected to develop a strategic plan for the RTA that will present a mobility Vision for the Chicago region. Work will include evaluating the degree to which the region's current transit services and infrastructure are achieving the Vision, developing a statement of the needs for operation, preservation, improvement and/or expansion of the transit system to achieve the Vision, and identifying alternative financing mechanisms and efficiencies to pay the costs associated with addressing those needs. Paul Skoutelas serves as project manager.
PB Consult is working with the Riverside County transportation Commission as it explores the potential for innovative financing, including through public-private partnerships (PPPs), to close funding gaps.
PB Consult is working with the Riverside County transportation Commission as it explores the potential for innovative financing, including through public-private partnerships (PPPs), to close funding gaps. The PB Consult Team will work with the Commission to establish clear goals and guidelines for its innovative finance program, helping address fundamental questions of when, why, and how innovative financing can help accelerate the delivery of transportation improvements and can help make more effective use of limited funding. Our approach is divided into three critical components: Screening Candidate Projects and Partners; Project Development; and Transaction Support. Each component represents a building block that leads to a successful solution that includes both private and public funding commitments.
PB Consult Develops Strategic Financial Plan as Part of WMATA Strategic Alliances and Risk Assessment
The Washington Metropolitan Transportation Authority has envisioned a program of short term capital needs, commonly known as “Metro Matters.” Some of the short-term needs include investment in basic infrastructure; purchasing 120 new rail cars and buying 185 more buses. The short-term needs also include critical security enhancements, which will require additional federal funding to implement. To execute this 6-year $3.3 billion program, WMATA engaged PB Consult to develop a strategic financial plan that would close the $1.5 billion gap in the capital program, and negotiate a complex regional funding agreement.
PB Consult began by documenting the current operational costs of the existing system, conducting a cost-benefit analysis, reviewing current WMATA responsibilities and functions of the various aspects of fare collection, and reviewing the potential costs of unwinding existing contractual agreements.
From a strategic perspective, PB Consult worked with regional transit entities seeking to participate in cost sharing and commit to an alliance program. Moving from the institutional advisory role to organizational strategy, PB Consult made recommendations for a revised organization plan for how these functions would be outsourced and managed.
One of the components of this project involved an analysis of possible fare collection strategies WMATA could use, including the SmarTrip contactless card. Additionally, several alternatives were outlined to determine those which could add value and be compared to the baseline, including technology options, corporate alliances strategies, financial partnership strategies, institutional strategies, and organizational strategies. Together, these alternatives were narrowed to the option that best suits WMATA’s needs, and that would assist them in a cost-effective strategy to reduce their existing funding gap.
Within 45-days of appointment, PB Consult developed a comprehensive financial strategy to close a $1.5 billion funding gap in the program. The plan includes converting WMATA’s capital budget from an obligation to an expenditure basis secured by commercial credit facilities, achieving $300 million in new funding from local and state partners, pursuing new sources of federal funding, and developing new debt finance strategies backed by a sound debt policy.
PB
Consult advising Panama Canal Authority on
Expansion Program
PB Consult has just been awarded the contract
to advise the Panama Canal Authority (ACP)
on its proposed "Long Term Master Plan."
Anticipating the continued growth in world
trade and the development of larger new generation
ships, the ACP is preparing a Master Plan for
the future development of the Canal. The Master
Plan will consider major expansion options
and a wide range if alternative business models
to ensure the long term financial viability
of the Canal.
PB Consult's program advisory role is a high-level
advisory role that, in the first phase, will
review all aspects of the master planning process,
from organizational issues, ACP internal structure
to the ongoing technical feasibility studies.
The role then evolves to a financial advisory
role of assisting the ACP secure funding, and
during the final phase, transitions to a more
traditional program management assignment focused
on delivering the approved program identified
as most effective by the Master Plan.
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