News

OGC publishes latest Gateway Review Lessons Learned Bulletin

Released on 30/06/2009

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has today published the latest in a series of Lessons Learned documents tackling key themes and issues identified from the Government's Gateway Review assessments of programmes and projects. The new edition explores how to provide effective project assurance to help manage risk and improve delivery confidence for the management team and stakeholders.

Introduced in 2001 as a mandatory tool for central Government, Gateway Reviews have made a real contribution to the successful delivery of public services. Over 2,000 reviews have been completed to date, and the Lessons Learned publications capture and communicate common issues and solutions identified by the assessments.

Lessons Learned - Effective Project Assurance provides those involved in programme and project management clear pointers, guidance and best practice advice on how to achieve successful delivery to time, quality and cost, realising benefits. These are based around the following six lessons:

• Lesson 1: All projects should have their own assurance plan;
• Lesson 2: The right assurance tool should be used at the right time,  provided by appropriately skilled and experienced assurors;
• Lesson 3: The right assurance at the right time always adds value: start the assurance early, and consider using Starting Gate;
• Lesson 4: Organisations should develop and declare a policy setting out when and to whom assurance should be circulated;
• Lesson 5: Reap the benefits of assurance by sharing and learning from others;
• Lesson 6: Act on the recommendations and use circulation and escalation procedures where appropriate.

Speaking about the publication, Nigel Smith, Chief Executive of the OGC said:

"Gateway Reviews have already proven to be a valuable addition to the Government's checks on whether a programme or project is on the right path to deliver a successful outcome. It is important best practice learnt from them is shared across Whitehall. The Lessons Learned publications provide a useful additional measure to support programme and project managers with guidance on how to do the right things, in the right way, with the right resource, and minimise the risk of failure."

To read Lessons Learned - Effective Project Assurance visit: http://www.ogc.gov.uk/programmes_and_projects_initiatives_lessons_learnt.asp

Notes to editors

About the OGC GatewayT Process

The OGC Gateway Process examines programmes and projects at key decision points in their lifecycle. It looks ahead to provide assurance that they can progress successfully to the next stage. The process is best practice in central civil government, the health sector, local government and defence.
 
OGC Gateway Reviews are applicable to a wide range of programmes and projects including:

• policy development and implementation; 
• organisational change and other change initiatives; 
• acquisition programmes and projects; 
• property/construction developments; 
• IT enabled business change; 
• and procurements using or establishing framework arrangements.

OGC Gateway Reviews deliver a "peer review" in which independent practitioners from outside the programme or project use their experience and expertise to examine the progress and likelihood of successful delivery of the programme or project.  The review uses a series of interviews, documentation reviews and the teams experience to provide valuable additional perspective on the issues facing the project team, and an external challenge to the robustness of plans and processes.

The review is conducted on a confidential basis for the senior responsible owner who is accountable for the implementation of the recommended remedial action. This confidentiality allows interviewees to speak frankly and openly to reviewers about any problems facing the project or programme.

OGC's Starting Gate is a short independent peer review which applies at the early stages of the policy-to-delivery life-cycle. It offers departments the opportunity to gain independent assurance on how well practical delivery issues are being addressed in preparing for implementation. Starting Gate is separate to the OGC Gateway review process for projects and programmes, but is highly relevant to it: most Starting Gate review topics are likely to be delivered through major programmes which will be subject to Gateway reviews.

About OGC

The 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

Contact details:
OGC Service Desk
Tel: 0845 000 4999
E-mail: ServiceDesk@ogc.gsi.gov.uk