For more than a decade the FAA has promised to modernize and make the civil aviation system more efficient and reliable, but the only things it has reliably generated are delays or cost overruns or usually both.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: Flying the Government Skies

Mr. Van Dyk said local officials would have to make clear to bondholders their willingness to default if cost overruns or low ticket sales diminished returns from sports events.

WSJ: Sacramento Fights to Keep NBA Team

While the private sector assumes responsibility for capital costs and the risks involved such as cost and time overruns in construction or failure to deliver an agreed level of service, the local authority in return commits to regular payments.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | Union steps up fight against PPP

Last August, when the head of America's largest nuclear utility said that this was not the time to build new nuclear plants, the main reason he gave was not political opposition or the threat of cost overruns, but the low price of natural gas.

ECONOMIST: America��s nuclear industry struggles to get off the floor

The return should reflect such risk factors as the project's technical complexity, the agency's management capacity, the likelihood of cost overruns, and the consequences of under- or non-performance.

WHITEHOUSE: CIRCULAR NO. A-130 Revised