‍AI can’t transform what governments can’t see

Artificial intelligence now plays a role in every stage of infrastructure delivery — from predictive maintenance to financial modelling. Yet in the world of Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs), one issue is stalling progress: governments rarely have access to the very data they need to deploy AI effectively.

Most PPP contracts give governments rights to assets and performance reports, but not to the underlying operational data. That means the public sector can’t apply AI to monitor performance, benchmark across portfolios, or understand where risk and value are truly sitting.

The invisible gap in PPP governance

For years, PPP agreements have been written to define obligations and allocate risk — but not to treat data as a strategic asset. As a result:

• Private operators hold the data that shows how projects are performing.
• Governments rely on static reports, often months old and stripped of detail.

Without structured access, the public sector can’t use AI to surface insights, identify trends, or test whether public money is being spent effectively. It’s a governance gap with major consequences: AI can’t learn from information it can’t see.

Why it matters now

Three trends make this issue impossible to ignore ⚡

1. AI is moving from theory to practice.
2. Governments are deploying AI to manage transport, utilities, defence, and social infrastructure — but without access to live data, the insights stop at the private operator’s dashboard.
3. PPP portfolios are growing — and aging.
4. Long-term projects mean institutional memory fades, amendments accumulate, and knowledge fragments. Without a unified data layer, portfolio oversight becomes reactive.
5. Transparency and ESG expectations are rising.
6. From carbon reporting to social outcomes, evidence is everything. Without granular data, governments can’t demonstrate compliance or performance with confidence.

The missing clause

To enable AI-driven governance, governments must include a data rights and access clause in every new PPP agreement. It’s the contractual foundation for intelligent oversight.

A robust clause should:

• Define that the public authority is entitled to access all performance and operational data related to the project.
• Require data to be maintained in a machine-readable, non-proprietary format suitable for analysis.
• Provide continuous access, not just annual summaries.
• Allow data to be aggregated and analysed across the government’s wider portfolio.
• Protect legitimate commercial sensitivities while ensuring transparency.

This single clause transforms data from an afterthought into a core public asset.

From oversight to intelligence

Once governments secure structured access to data, the possibilities multiply:

• Active performance monitoring — AI can track compliance in real time, flagging issues before they escalate.
• Predictive asset management — Portfolio data can reveal early warning signs and optimise lifecycle costs.
• Value-for-money analytics — AI can correlate payments, outcomes, and risk exposure.
• Portfolio learning — Data from one project can inform the next, improving future procurement and policy.

The result is a shift from reactive oversight to proactive intelligence — faster decisions, fewer disputes, and greater value for the taxpayer.

The way forward

Every new PPP procurement is a chance to modernize. By securing data entitlement at the contractual level, governments can unlock AI’s potential for transparency, accountability, and performance.

Those that act now will lead the next generation of intelligent infrastructure. Those that don’t risk remaining in the dark — managing yesterday’s contracts with yesterday’s tools.

Because in the age of AI, data isn’t a byproduct of infrastructure — it is infrastructure.