PPD-21 describes critical infrastructure security and resilience as a shared responsibility between governments at all levels and the private sector and calls for an evaluation of the existing public-private partnership, which identified the attributes of effective partnerships.

NIPP 2013 expands on this concept by acknowledging the differing perspectives that drive government and industry partners who work collaboratively toward shared goals.

The partnership approach to critical infrastructure security and resilience recognizes the unique perspectives and comparative advantages of the diverse critical infrastructure community.

The NIPP is designed to be implemented using organizational structures and partnerships committed to sharing and protecting the information needed to achieve the NIPP goal and supporting objectives.