With the recent announcement from the BBC that the NHS’s major complex projects management and procurement support force – the Strategic Project Team (SPT) – will be “closed down”, questions are now being asked and lessons must be learned in…

The NAO have reported that “A third of major government projects due to deliver in the next five years are rated as in doubt or unachievable unless action is taken to improve delivery” NAO Controller and Auditor Amyas Morse believes…

A PFI project being hailed as a model partnership, expected to deliver what it was planned to, and all for less than expected may not be something you often see reported in the media, but the Thames Tideway Tunnel (TTT)…

Service integration and management (SIAM) has continued to be something of a buzz-acronym in managed service and outsourcing circles. The way it’s talked about, you might be forgiven for thinking that it’s a silver bullet which in one fell swoop…

Megaprojects are large-scale public ventures, complex in nature, often taking many years to complete with the potential to impact on the lives of millions of people – they are projects on a scale that demands a very different management skillset,…

You will know from experience, as we do, that size and term can impact on the complexity of a project and the relationships that govern such a venture. And, as PFI agreements by their very nature tend to be sizeable…

Despite sticking to the letter of their contract, we see £500m of Atos contracts under review by Whitehall. Time and again you will hear us discussing the benefits of a well-worded contract, of the need for it to be clear,…

In the face of growing perceived threats to security and defence the e-Borders project was conceived to “create a joined-up modernised intelligence-led border control and security framework” tracking passengers as they travelled to our shores by air, rail or sea,…

When faced with the task of sourcing a new provider for an important and complex project, there are many points that need to be seriously considered. However, in our experience, there is one key area in particular that is consistently…

Private sector service providers take a hefty 50% bite out of the public sector’s total annual expenditure on goods and services. The likes of G4S, Serco, BT and a few other members of the exclusive Massive Outsources Suppliers’ Club receive…

We have already gone into quite some detail about the new EU Procurement directive due to hit our shores in the very near future – in fact, Cabinet Office consultations suggest that early 2015 is now more likely for their…

Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) is an incredibly useful step in the procurement process, especially when one of the more restrictive procedures is to be selected. However, essential though it may be, PME has until now been largely ignored. New EU…

With so many pieces in play on the metaphorical chessboard of complex service-provider relationships, to ensure success in achieving your business outcomes it is important to know how each will move. Who are the advocates, the obstructers and the fence-sitters?…

The complexity and length of PFI contracts and the upward pressure on the unitary charge (due to inflation, the cost of contract variations and the contractors’ desire for profit, among other things) mean that multi-million pound deficits can accumulate if…

It was only last week that we were (or so we thought) reporting on BT’s latest public sector partnership issues with One Connect and Lancashire County Council… and yet it’s BT’s relationship with Liverpool County Council that is in the…

When complex strategic relationships between public bodies and private sector vendor organisations start to veer off track it can often seem too daunting a task to refocus vendor performance on the original business outcomes expected and agreed. With productivity levels…

As most PFI contracts span a period of 20 to 30 years, they tend to have built-in provisions for periodic price realignment, based on market rates for similar services. Although the responsibility for managing this process rests with the contractor,…

When entering into a new strategic relationship for outsourcing or a major technology solution project, the agreement at some point in its formation will be subjected to time pressures from internal or external sources. It could be that the client…

With HM Treasury now allowing procuring organisations to keep all the savings they achieve from effective management and the realignment of PFI contracts, this provides an ideal opportunity for you to review the governance, structure and scope of your operational…

Our focus is on operational PFI Contracts: How to get the most from partner changes. With most PFI contracts having an average lifespan of 20 to 30 years, it is inevitable that some of the parties will change during that…

As I recently read through yet another Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report uncovering yet more failures of Government procurement and project failures, I found myself wondering whether the squandering of the public purse is ever going to be addressed with…

Despite the mounting pressure of ever more limited budgets and strict HM directives to actively pursue savings in PFI contracts, it is surprising how few organisations have completed a thorough review of their PFI-related costs. Recent discussions with senior managers…