Law No.12 of 2020 regulating Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Country/Territory Qatar Document type Legislation Date 2020 Source FAO, FAOLEX Subject Land & soil, General Keyword Public private partnership (PPP) Business/industry/corporations Procedural matters Geographical area Asia, Middle East, Near East and North Africa, Persian Gulf, Western Asia Entry into force notes All competent authorities, each within their respective jurisdiction, shall enforce this Law. Abstract This Law consisting of 30 articles aims at providing a legislative framework for regulating the private sector’s contribution to the implementation of major development projects. The Law outlines that partnerships between the Government and the private sector will be executed as per the following provisions (i) Allocation of lands through a lease or a usufruct, for development by the Private Sector; (ii) Build - Operate -Transfer (BOT); (iii) Build – Transfer - Operate (BTO); (iv) Build – Own - Operate -Transfer (BOOT); (v) Operation and Maintenance; and (vi) any other model adopted by the Council of Ministers upon the proposal of the Minister. The PPP Law indicates that a public entity, such as a Ministry, identifies a project it would like to implement through a PPP model and recommends it to the Minister of Commerce and Industry for approval in principle (art.4). Then the public entity prepares and develops a detailed report on the project to be submitted to the Prime Minister, together with Minister’s recommendations (art.5). After the Prime Minister approval, the Minister of the lead public entity forms a Project Committee, which oversees the developing of two main documents: the Project Policy Document (art.6) and the Project Business Case (art.7). Once both documents are approved by the Prime Minister’s Office, the public entity and Project Committee will prepare and circulate a prospectus for potential bidders, which includes all project contract details. The PPP Law provides that all tenders be published in local or international newspapers, or on their websites. The Law also requires all opportunities be posted to the unified website for government procurement in Qatar (art.8). Article 12 establishes that the selection of a successful bidder must be subject to the principles of transparency, free competition, and equality of opportunity and treatment. The Prime Minister may cancel the bidding process if (i) only one bid is submitted (or only one bid is left after excluding ineligible bids); (ii) all bids are accompanied by reservations or conditions that are inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the Prospectus or cannot be evaluated; (iii) other cases specified in the prospectus; or (iv) the public interest so requires (art.14). The maximum length of a PPP contract is stated to be 30 years. However, longer contracts are permitted, or the renewal of shorter contracts, based on the requirements of the public interest after the approval of the Prime Minister (art.18). Qatari courts shall be competent to decide on disputes resulting from the Partnership Contract and between its parties (art.18). Full text English/Arabic Website www.almeezan.qa; www.eversheds-sutherland.com