A taxonomy for construction terms in privatized‐infrastructure finance: supporting semantic exchange of project risk information

Abstract

There is an increasing need for effective flow of information between the various participants in privatized infrastructure projects particularly between construction companies and financial institutions. A taxonomy is developed for relevant concepts in the domain of privatized‐infrastructure finance. The taxonomy is an attempt to create information interoperability between the construction and financial industries. The taxonomy models the concepts of a privatized‐infrastructure finance into six main domains: processes, products, projects, actors, resources and technical topics (technical details and basic concepts). The taxonomy was designed to be consistent with Open Financial Exchange (OFX). It was developed through the analysis of 10 case studies and involvement in project development and interaction with industry experts. The taxonomy was validated through interviews with domain experts, and through the analysis of two independent case studies. A prototypical semantic web‐based portal for communicating project risks was developed to in order to illustrate the use of the taxonomy. Project partners are able to post and view risk items and their status in this portal, observe who is handling them, be aware of what decisions have been made to manage them and what lessons learned are available to address these risks.

Keywords:

• Privatized infrastructure
• project finance
• semantic web

Notes

1. Net operating income/total debt service.

2. Dominion Bond Rating Services Limited.

3. A municipal bond supported by the revenue from a specific project, such as a toll bridge, highway or local stadium. This differs from a general‐obligation bond, which can be re‐paid through a variety of sources. A main reason for using revenue bonds is to avoid reaching legislated debt limits.

4. A note, which usually matures in 5–10 years. (Note is a debt security maturing in 1–10 years, bills mature in less than one year and bonds typically mature in more than 10 years).

5. Revolving credit: a line of credit where the customer pays a commitment fee and can take and repay funds at will. It is usually used for operating purposes, fluctuating each month depending on revenues and expenditures.