The government has published the Major Projects Authority (MPA’s) second annual report into the performance of 199 major projects with a forecast lifetime cost of £488 billion, highlighting improved project management over the year.

Alongside the report, the MPA’s Red-Amber-Green (RAG) project ratings, or Delivery Confidence Assessment ratings, give a snapshot of the challenges for the government’s projects in September 2013.

Over the course of the last year, 39 projects have left the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), and many of these have been brought to a successful conclusion. In other cases, projects left the GMPP where they have transitioned to business as usual, or been redefined. A total of 75 further projects are due to complete by April 2015.

Twenty-two projects received final business case approval from the Treasury during the year, allowing them to make the substantial financial commitments that will lead to implementation. A further 21 projects received outline business case approval, allowing them to proceed to more detailed planning. 

Most of the government’s major projects have multiple delivery partners spanning both the public and private sectors, while a high proportion involve complex private sector procurement exercises.

Key findings in this year’s report include:

• half of the 30 projects with the most significant challenges last year have improved
• 47 new projects have entered the MPA’s portfolio; other projects have left and are now up and running, including the New Passport Programme, the Greater Anglia Rail refranchising and the project to establish the Canal & River Trust
• almost half of project leaders have attended the government’s new Major Projects Leadership Academy, part of the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford

Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said that improving the way major projects are run, had helped to save £1.2 billion in 2012 to 2013 alone. All leaders of the projects will now go to the new University of Oxford training school.

The  Major Projects Authority is tasked with overseeing the government’s biggest projects  to ensure a proper assurance process for projects and help government departments to find the right people with skills to complete projects successfully. It can intervene directly where projects are causing concern, providing additional assurance or commercial and operational support. It can also make a starting gate review, or equivalent, mandatory for all new projects/programmes to assess deliverability before project delivery gets underway

John Manzoni, Chief Executive of the MPA commented:

“The MPA focuses on ensuring that the government does projects the right way. Critical to this is building leadership capability, clarifying project leaders’ accountability and responsibility for delivery, while ensuring that rigorous project planning and assurance is undertaken on all of the government’s major projects.”