The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has today launched a new guide - A Formula for Success: Procurement effectiveness in major project delivery - which is the latest in a raft of measures driven by the OGC to help in the delivery of complex projects to time, quality and cost.
The guide highlights the benefit to be gained from treating procurement as a key component in the journey to effective delivery. It seeks senior official's commitment to a number of principles, which if adhered to, should significantly improve the chance of project success. Early and senior level engagement of potential suppliers, in advance of the formal procurement process, will create a joint understanding and clarity of purpose. These discussions will allow government customers to get a real grasp of the risks to delivery and help to develop a clear joint vision of the project's intended outcome from the outset. It also places renewed emphasis on the need to manage contracts throughout their life, recognising the changes that will inevitable occur.
A Formula for Success builds on other recent initiatives launched by the OGC, which are also aimed at increasing the likelihood of positive outcomes from the procurement of major government programmes and projects.
Last year the OGC, in conjunction with the National Audit Office, launched a good-practice framework to support Government departments in raising service contract management capability. A procurement Pre-Qualification Tool (PQT) aimed principally at the procurement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solution, and best practice guidance on establishing a Joint Statement of Intent (JSI) with prospective suppliers have also recently been established.
Nigel Smith, OGC Chief Executive said:
"A Formula for Success provides a succinct and easily digestible set of principles for senior government officials on how they can help to increase the certainty of success of major government projects. The principles, along with other OGC guidance and tools are helping to safeguard the successful outcomes of complex programmes and projects. This is essential to ensure value for money for the taxpayer and the continued delivery of world-class public services. It is vital that those working in public sector procurement get it right from project inception and ensure that risks are mitigated."
A Formula for Success can be accessed via the OGC website.
The PQT and JSI tools can be accessed via the OGC website.
Notes to editors.
About A Formula for Success
A Formula for Success is a set of principles in booklet form that develop the concept of procurement as a strategic tool in the delivery of complex government projects. It is aimed at senior decision makers; alerting them to the value that procurement can bring to their departmental outcomes, stimulating debate on how to adapt procurement to match the increasingly complex needs of Government and setting out the core principles which ensure more certainty of success to the delivery of Government policy through complex projects.
About the Office of Government Commerce
The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is an independent office of HM Treasury, established to help Government deliver best value from its spending. The OGC works with central Government departments and other public sector organisations to ensure the achievement of six key goals:
Delivery of value for money from third party spend;
Delivery of projects to time, quality and cost, realising benefits;
Getting the best from the Government's £30bn estate;
Improving the sustainability of the Government estate and operations, including reducing carbon emissions by 12.5% by 2010-11, through stronger performance management and guidance;
Helping achieve delivery of further Government policy goals, including innovation, equality, and support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs);
And driving forward the improvement of central Government capability in procurement, project and programme management, and estates management through the development of people skills, processes and tools.
OGC provides policy standards and guidance on best practice in procurement, projects and estate management, and monitors and challenges departments' performance against these standards, grounded in an evidence base of information and assurance. It promotes and fosters collaborative procurement across the public sector to deliver better value for money and better public services; and it provides innovative ways to develop Government's commercial and procurement capability, including leadership of the Government Procurement Service.
Media contact: Michael Dunning, Media Relations Manager, OGC T: 020 7271 1318 M: 07771 815245 E: michael.dunning@ogc.gsi.gov.uk
