Relational procurement: translating lessons learned from large infrastructural projects.

Decades of experience with delivering large-scale infrastructure projects through a partnering approach provides valuable lessons to be learned about the antecedents, processes, outcomes and possibilities associated with public–private partnering. However, that rich experience has also provided considerable insight into the challenges of developing and embedding relational contracting in practice. Drawing upon established research on partnering in major infrastructure projects, this chapter elaborates on and explores those challenges and examines how they may unfold in the context of public–private collaboration designed to address wicked social and cultural issues. Emphasis is placed upon understanding the organisational cultural antecedents of partnering and how these may evolve as collaborative relationships are established and develop between organisations that straddle the public–private divide.