By Adam Turteltaub

Public-private partnerships are formed jointly by government entities and the private sector.  Like joint ventures they have two organizational owners.  Also like joint ventures they share a risk:  each side thinks the other is in charge of compliance, while neither side actually is.

Kent Swagler is there to makes sure that compliance is very much taken care of for Bi-State Development in St. Louis.  He serves as the organization’s Director, Compliance and Ethics.

In this podcast he shares how to make compliance work in a public-private partnership.  The key, he explains, is to work together collaboratively to turn compliance into an asset for protecting mutual interest.  He shares numerous pieces of advice including:

* The importance of demonstrating that this is not a duplication of effort

* The need to gain the support of the employees by demonstrating you are listening

* Providing metrics of success, even if it just progress

* The value of a consolidated requirements spreadsheet

Kent concludes by sharing how he was also able to demonstrate how much the compliance program saved the partnership.

It’s good listening for anyone in a public-private partnership, or even a joint venture.