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- There are a number of, I think,
challenges and opportunities on the minds of
public sector transportation
agencies and officials today.
One is the sort of continued issues
that they've seen over the last several decades.
Everything from procurements,
with speeding procurement up, to project delivery.
Making sure that projects are both, you know,
on time and on budget, thinking about new financing models.
Certainly there's a lot of federal dollars
that are flowing into our transportation infrastructure,
but thinking about new ways to continue
to find those dollars to invest them.
Obviously the continued asset maintenance,
you know, we have lots of old things
in infrastructure and transportation.
You know, one in 12 bridges
in the United States, for example,
is structurally deficient.
And there's probably a different category
which I wouldn't say are new problems,
but are ones that are finally
getting attention in our industry.
One is equity.
Transportation in many respects
should have been, in my opinion,
an opportunity to really bring people together,
to enable folks to get to school, to get to work.
And in many communities in the United States
transportation has actually been a divider,
whether a physical divider,
a highway if you will,
to not providing good public transportation
to certain communities.
The second one is climate.
And again, not a new issue
but I think one where, you know,
particularly the US Department of Transportation,
the White House, the Congress is demanding,
rightfully so, that the industry attack climate change.
You know, in United States, transportation
as a sector emits the most greenhouse gas emissions.
And so we have a part to play
as an industry to reduce that, to improve that,
to help folks, whether it's moving
to electric vehicles, to better public transit options,
and again, as I mentioned,
connecting the communities that have been left behind.
The implications for the private players
in the industry I think are a few.
The private sector is in a position
to be able to help the public sector
address some of these challenges.
And so, for example, bringing a skilled workforce
to the challenges that we just discussed.
Another is thinking about the supply chain.
And so with all these infrastructure dollars
that are going to be flowing into states for projects
you can obviously anticipate already
that there might be some supply chain issues
relative to workforce, as mentioned,
or even into materials.
Equity, as we mentioned, is another.
And it's not only about, I think, advising the public sector
about how to deliver infrastructure
and transportation policy in a more equitable manner.
But I think it's they themselves,
those private sector companies to embrace equity themselves.
So whether it's, you know,
adopting ESG policies on their own,
ensuring that they're partnering
with minority- and women-owned businesses
and disadvantaged business enterprises
in a real meaningful way,
or even ensuring that their workforce is diverse.
These are the issues that are on the minds
of our public sector executives.
And, you know, we're fortunate at BCG to be able
to help them think through these challenges
and come up with both some new solutions
and new opportunities.
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