Build–operate–transfer

The term operator model is used both in terms of public infrastructure projects and private, mostly international project management.

Formation

Operator models have their origin in the infrastructure policy. In this context, the term public-private partnership is often used. The operator model is applied to projects in which a private company gets almost completely transferred fulfilling a public task of a franchise. Here, the project management, planning, construction, financing, and in particular the operation be taken over by a private concessionaire. The private is so actively involved in the execution of public tasks. The fact that he acts as operators in appearance, he is directly or indirectly to the user or the citizen. Well-known examples are the bridge with refinancing through tolls or duties as the basic supply of electricity, drinking water and wastewater. For the contracting authority, this constitutes a form of financing in which the production costs need not be reported as " debt ". Later in the argument with the (alleged) higher efficiency of private sector work organization. The model allows then to charge for a service which is provided otherwise financed by taxes.

Interests of operator models

In international management operating models describe projects where the actual producer ( OEM) parts or all of the production and maintenance for a limited time transmits to an operator and then acts as a client in relation to the operating company. The concept has held mid 1990 collection in industrial sectors, especially the automotive industry. One of the first systematic attempts made ​​probably VW manager Ignacio López when he introduced the Puebla plant in Mexico that suppliers obstruct their parts on the band itself and the payment for it is not due until the release of the quality of the entire vehicle. Also, the industrial park smartville ( smart GmbH ) in Hambach is certainly one of the most famous examples and consists of a plurality of individual operator models.

In the classic form of an operator model, the investment for the investment is made by the operating company and dives accordingly also in their balance sheet and not in the client. This approach is at HGB accounting relatively well possible, but bound by the rules of IAS or U.S. GAAP to stricter rules.

It is also called project financing. The operator gets the investment made by its customers generally proportionately paid per unit produced (See an extreme variant: PoP: Pay -on- Production). In most cases, operator models are associated with a new plant construction, the operator usually the plant manufacturer itself or an operating company founded to reduce the risk as an offshoot (SPC: Special Purpose Company). Some operators models have been also been applied to existing systems, for example in the paint by Seat in Spain.

Whether public or industrial operator model, the motifs are similar: on the one hand, there are financial considerations, on the other hand, the incorporation of knowledge of a specialist, that is a form of outsourcing, and thus also a shift of the business risk from the customer to the supplier, especially in a piece- related pay no guaranteed annual quantity.

Molding

The English term for operator models is BOT (Build Operate Transfer ) and identifies the three phases that make up an operator model: the construction phase, the concession period in which the operating company operates the plant and the transfer to which the plant is transferred to the customer. In practice, however, usually negotiated a new concession phase instead, since the customer usually has little interest in to operate the system even now.

Special forms are