Figure 1 The assurance mechanisms There are five main components of the current system - Gateway is the most prevalent. | ||||||||
| Type of assurance | Purpose | Owner | Estimated total cost to Government 2008-09 (£m) | Estimated cost per review 2008-09 (£000s) | In use since | Reviews performed 2008-09 | Total reviews performed until March 2009 |
Gateway (High Risk) | Point in time | To provide an independent point in time review of project status prior to a key decision point in the project lifecycle. | 5.7 | 40 | 2001-02 | 143 | 1,228 | |
Major Projects Review Group | Point in time | Part of HM Treasury's validation and approval process for high value projects, typically those greater than £1 billion, or projects which are particularly innovative or complex. MPRG provides assurance to HM Treasury ministers on the deliverability, value for money and affordability of a project. The MPRG can recommend that a project proceeds, proceeds with conditions attached, or is stopped. | HM Treasury | 1.6
| 82
| 2007- 08
| 19
| 27
|
Starting gate | Point in time | To help departments identify delivery issues and risks much earlier in the policy development process before transition to a project or programme, and so help prevent the common causes of project failure. | 0.33
| 54
| 2008-09
| 6
| 20
| |
Assurance of action plans | Point in time | To provide SROs with assurance that the project is addressing the issues that have led to a low Delivery Confidence rating in a recent Gateway review. | 0.09 | 13 | 2008-09 | 7 | 29 | |
Major Projects Portfolio | Status report | A quarterly report on the health of the top 40-50 major projects. Projects which are considered particularly high risk, high cost, innovative or critical to delivering services to the taxpayer are included. | 0.6 | 139 (per quarterly report - approximately 3.5 per project return) | 2007- 08 | 4 Quarters (over 160 returns) | 8 Quarters (over 300 returns) | |
Source: National Audit Office analysis of Office of Government Commerce (OGC) information | ||||||||