Electronic Pitfalls: The Online Modification of Ongoing Consumer Service Agreements

This Article examines the procedure for online modification of an ongoing consumer contract. It reviews the relevant case law, including Douglas v. U.S. District Court, a recent Ninth Circuit decision that calls into question the validity of changing contractual terms by merely posting the changes on the service provider’s Web site. The Article also examines the discrete components found in an effective online contract modification and provides practical pointers for contract drafters

The institutional challenges of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in transition economies: lessons from Kosovo

Although infrastructure public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become increasingly popular globally, they face their own institutional challenges in transition economies. This paper highlights some of these challenges by examining the (in)formal factors affecting Kosovo’s first PPP in the waste management sector, Ecohigjiena sh.p.k. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews with executives, senior managers, and administrative personnel from Ecohigjiena sh.p.k, the Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK), and the municipality of Gjilan, the case analysis shows the PPP ultimately faced insurmountable internal and external difficulties, including low levels of professionalism, challenging legal frameworks, poor communication/trust between partners, and inadequate enforcement of regulations

Procuring healthcare public-private partnerships (PPPs) through unsolicited proposals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has left nations around the world scrambling to procure emergency healthcare capacity, services and equipment. To meet this unprecedented demand on global healthcare systems, governments are increasingly looking to partner with the private sector via public-private partnerships (PPPs). However, the protracted procedures of traditional PPP procurements are not suitable for times of crisis. This is where unsolicited proposals (USPs) may play a pivotal role. / Design/methodology/approach: To explore the relevance of USPs for the current pandemic, this Viewpoint paper describes both the advantages and challenges of USPs, discusses the emergence of several PPPs to combat COVID-19 as well as some of the ad hoc processes governing current USP consideration, highlights an example of streamlined USP solicitation from Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation and articulates a pragmatic and practical approach for encouraging and procuring healthcare USPs. / Findings: This Viewpoint paper concludes that USPs could play a crucial role in the COVID-19 pandemic as boundary spanners between public agencies and the private sector in the PPP procurement process. / Social implications: Deploying proactive and strategic healthcare PPPs at speed and scale through digital USP platforms may help mitigate the pandemic’s long-term effects. Digital USP platforms may also serve as crucial tools for effective crisis communication, decision-making and partnership. / Originality/value: Using the digital USP platforms proposed in this paper, infrastructure organizations can develop and maintain effective partnerships with other sector organizations prior to and during crises like COVID-19

Biodiesel blends for fueling diesel engines

"Commercially produced biodiesel is a safe and reliable alternative fuel that can be used in diesel engines with little or no need for modification to existing engines and fuel systems. Most commercially available biodiesel fuels are actually biodiesel blends that are properly referenced with the letter B followed by a one- or two-digit number that represents the percentage of biodiesel used in the blend with petroleum diesel fuel. Pure biodiesel is sometimes called 'neat' biodiesel and is also referred to as B100. The most common biodiesel blends are B2, B5, B10, B20 and B50. The remaining fraction is petroleum-based diesel fuel, which is often referred to as petrodiesel."--Page 1.William Casady and Leon Schumacher (Agricultural Engineering Extension

Private Participation in US Infrastructure: the Role of PPP Units

The use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) is expanding globally. PPP contracts have become the main vehicle to incorporate private-sector skills, resources, and risk management into the delivery of critical infrastructure facilities. PPPs include two key elements: bundling together, in some combination, facility design, construction, operation, maintenance, and financing, along with the meaningful transfer of infrastructure-related risks to private partners. PPPs have been used to deliver network infrastructure such as roads, bridges, tunnels, and water systems, as well as social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, prisons, and courthouses. Properly designed, executed, and enforced PPPs can create substantial social value. Poorly designed PPPs, however, can generate social costs. Therefore, ensuring careful end-to-end management of the PPP process is crucial to their success. Countries around the world are addressing those challenges by creating PPP units. PPP units are quasigovernmental entities that assist the public sector with pre-project screening, project prioritization, education, and expert advice. PPP units have been established in Australia, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and India, among many other countries. They strive to ensure that infrastructure projects attract private participation while promoting the public interest. Despite their global popularity, PPP units remain relatively understudied and underused in the United States. PPP units have effectively supported private participation in infrastructure around the world. Because the US lags behind other developed countries in PPP use, the benefits of such units would likely be large if implemented here. In this report, we consider how the United States can effectively use PPP units. Fifty such units would emerge if undertaken at the state level. This would result in many relatively small units with minimal PPP deal flow that fail to capture economies in size and scope. Alternatively, a single large federal PPP unit could create problems of its own. We explore a middle ground: creating seven regional PPP units in conjunction with a federal unit. Modeled roughly on the West Coast Infrastructure Exchange (WCX), these regional PPP units mirror the seven emerging US economic megaregions. Their formation would occur in concert with evolving federal PPP unit efforts. We then review the set of benefits generated by our proposed regional PPP units. Benefits include greater public-sector understanding of and expertise in PPP project delivery, discovering and implementing global best practices, improved project screening and prioritization, lower transaction costs associated with PPPs, and the allocation of capital to higher-valued projects. Greater reliance on PPP units would refocus US infrastructure investment on asset performance, rigorous project evaluation, and enhanced public-sector procurement capacity. PPP units would also allow state and local governments to improve their infrastructure project development and delivery while effectively managing risk and addressing a set of well-recognized US infrastructure problems

Pandemics, public-private partnerships (PPPs), and force majeure | COVID-19 expectations and implications

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is placing unprecedented stress on public-private partnerships (PPPs), creating the real possibility of widespread project failures. The disruption and potential collapse of multiple PPP projects will likely trigger force majeure contractual provisions, but the applicability and efficacy of these generic catch-all clauses remain in question. This critical note therefore discusses the implications of force majeure contractual conditions on PPPs in the COVID-19 epoch. We first define the concept of force majeure as it pertains to pandemics. Next, we review a select number of international policies for such events, outlining their key features and glaring shortcomings. Then, we use Novia Scotia’s Highway 104 Twinning Project as an illustrative case example of improved force majeure risk management. Finally, after reflecting on the three ironies of construction crisis management, we outline the need for swift trust in PPPs during this current pandemic and conclude by calling for a comprehensive revision of force majeure contract provisions

Problems in zen

Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, 1969.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-38).by Timothy P. Casady.B.S