Kutak Rock congratulates firm clients, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) and California State University Fresno (Fresno State), for being honored as Public-Private Partnership (P3) Projects of the Year at the 2021 P3 Awards. The P3 Awards spotlight the exemplary organizations, projects and individuals that have strengthened the development and implementation of P3s around the world. 

The P3 Award for Social Infrastructure Project of the Year was presented to PGCPS for its Alternative Construction Financing Project, the first K-12 school P3 to close in the United States. The $1.24B project closed in December 2020 and will result in the selected developer’s designing, building, financing, and providing life-cycle maintenance to five new middle schools and one K-8 school in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The P3 Awards judges were impressed with the model that sets an important precedent for other school districts looking to meet immediate and long-term needs, create substantial cost and time-savings and sizable community benefits. 

Since 2019, Kutak Rock has served as outside counsel to PGCPS on the P3 project, supporting PGCPS to define, procure, negotiate, execute, and implement this project. Hilary Jackler, the firm’s Washington, D.C./Richmond Regional Managing Partner, and Nicole Moriarty, a partner in Kutak Rock’s Washington, D.C. office, led the firm’s efforts on the project.

The P3 Award for Utilities Project of the Year was presented to Fresno State for its Central Utility Plant P3 Project. The 33-year contract, valued at more than $170 million, will provide more than 25,000 students, faculty and staff with energy-efficient and reliable heating and cooling. The project also includes the installation of new solar panels on campus aiming to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions by 30% in the first year of operation. The P3 Awards judges welcomed the compelling financing approach and lauded the project’s environmentally friendly purpose along with student engagement, calling it a landmark in the industry, capturing the essence of P3.

Since 2019, Kutak Rock served as outside counsel to Fresno State on the P3 project, supporting Fresno State as part of its team to procure, negotiate, and execute this project. The project closed in March 2021 and serves as an important example of the growing campus energy P3 sector in the United States. Kutak Rock partners Seth Kirshenberg and Jeremy Johnson, both in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, served as lead outside legal counsel to Fresno State for this project.