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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
WHAT IS AN AFP?
AFP is an innovative way of financing and procuring large public infrastructure projects. It makes the best use of private-
sector resources and expertise to provide on-time, on-budget project delivery.
Under AFP, the public sector establishes the scope and purpose of the project while the construction work is financed and car-
ried out by the private sector. In some cases, the private sector will also be responsible for maintaining the infrastructure.
AFP provides the opportunity to transfer project risks to the private sector, which commits to delivering projects on time and
on budget.
AFP allows the government to deliver more infrastructure projects sooner by tapping into alternate sources of capital.
The AFP approach is generally suitable for large, complex projects. However, not all projects lend themselves to this model.
Before a request for proposals is issued on a project, a third-party accounting firm puts together a public-sector comparator
to compare the AFP model with a traditional delivery model. Only if the value of the AFP model outweighs the traditional
model and provides value for money will the Province release the RFP for the project.
