After years of spadework, the Performance Based Building Coalition (PBBC) has gained considerable traction this year for its vision of a broad and deep market for social infrastructure P3s in the U.S. Its tax legislation was introduced in Congress a few weeks ago. The Long Beach Civic Center and port headquarters reached financial close in April. And a public champion has emerged from the $1-billion UC Merced 2020 campus expansion project, by far one of the most complex P3 procurements in the country.

PBBC’s Public Sector Champion award was presented June 13 to Daniel Feitelberg, UC Merced’s CFO and Vice Chancellor of Planning and Budget. A total of 639 votes were cast and Feitelberg was selected as “an individual in the public sector who has made the most outstanding contribution to advancing both civil and/or social infrastructure performance-based DBFOM PPPs in the U.S. If a success, his UC Merced project would represent the first multi-asset social infrastructure PPP in the U.S. and the first availability payment concession in the education sector.