ABSTRACT
Public private partnership (PPP) is a rapidly growing means of procuring infrastructure asset and their associated services. This research focused on the challenges encountered during the tendering and negotiation phase of the PPP project procurement. The aim of the study is to assess the perception of construction professionals on the attributes affecting contract negotiation of Project Sponsors and concessionaires of PPP projects in Nigeria. Following the identification of the attributes affecting contract negotiation of PPP from literature, a questionnaire survey was developed and the responses obtained were used to assess the perception of Nigerian construction professionals having some PPP experience on the relative significance of the project sponsors and concessionaires attributes based on five-point Likert rating scale from 1 "insignificant" to 5 "extremely significant", statistical analysis using SPSS 20th edition was carried on the data generated. The result showed that; appointing a dedicated bid manager, robustness of outline technical proposal, level of financial guarantees provided/proposed by the concessionaires, level of reputation enjoyed by the organization, ability to effectively establish the project parameters and ability to offer tax concession or flexible tax regime are the most influencing attributes that have significant bearing on the efficiency of pre-contract processes. Whilst there was broad agreement on the ranking of importance for the various descriptive attributes, differences between the sectors are revealed relating to organizational nature and strength, organizational capabilities, technical capabilities and financial capabilities of the parties. This implies that these attributes may serve as a good baseline to both project sponsors and concessionaire in the negotiation of PPP projects which in effect may reduce the xii misunderstanding that arise during the tendering and negotiation processes. The study concludes that a better understanding of what is important to each party in the negotiation is an important step in improving the PPP process.