We report briefly in News on the capability review set up by Commercial Secretary to the Treasury Lord Deighton to assess whether the public sector procurement staff involved with infrastructure have the right commercial and project management skills in place. To equally briefly sum up what his review must conclude – no, they don’t.
Since it is a fact widely acknowledged within industry, Whitehall and even the government departments concerned that procurement and project management skills are sorely lacking in the pubic sector, the Deighton review might look like yet another delaying tactic from a government determined not to invest the country’s way out of its current economic stagnation.
There has without a doubt been much delaying, and as we went to press, just before the Budget, hopes were fading for any dramatic change in government policy towards infrastructure investment. Despite virtually every single employers’ body, like the Confederation of British Industry and the British Chambers of Commerce, arguing for the necessity of getting investment boosted to kick-start the wider economy, the government spent the days in the run up to the Budget dampening hopes.
Reading reports of government ministers’ public speeches over recent months would give the impression that an infrastructure boom was imminent. The government has a wish list of almost 600 projects that it says it intends to get under way – but without ever committing to start dates. A £40,000 million UK Guarantee Fund has seen one project funded, for a Northern Line underground extension in London.
The reality is that over the past three years new orders for infrastructure and other public sector funded or supported projects have fallen by some 33% in value.
The government says that there are few shovel ready projects to get started on that would make an immediate boost to the industry’s workloads or the economic revival. Many in the construction industry beg to differ, there is a huge backlog of road maintenance projects that they could start with, and can point to opportunities missed due to lack of government support.
For example, work was due to start on a £250 million waste recovery park at Allerton this summer but then the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs changed its mind about authorising vitally needed credits which meant the scrapping of a five-year procurement process with no reward to the private companies involved.
It is worrying that even if the government does heed the calls from all sides about investing the UK out of its current economic malaise, the skills to properly manage the procurement process are lacking. Lord Deighton has a sound track record in delivering major projects, such as the London Olympics which he oversaw. Once his review reaches its inevitable conclusion his time might be better applied to overseeing delivery of the UK’s desperately needed infrastructure programme – the construction industry can’t wait for a new breed of public sector procurement professional to be conceived and trained.
Nick Barrett
Editor