1.4 Complex projects comprise a major element of government spending. The Major Projects Group's portfolio (see Glossary), which contains 43 of the most complex government projects and programmes, is worth approximately £200 billion. There are, however, many other complex projects also being undertaken.
1.5 For a complex project, which involves a third party supplier, to be successful it requires:
• commercially aware senior civil servants and departmental boards to approve, lead and govern the work; and
• project teams with the commercial skills and experience to ensure that the right contract is placed with the best supplier and manage the contract through to its conclusion.
1.6 The level of specialist commercial skills required by each department will, however, vary with the number and size of complex projects it undertakes (Figure 1).
1.7 Whilst government departments have always carried out complex projects, three factors have added to the demand for commercial skills in recent years. These are:
• the involvement of third party contractors in the delivery of projects has increased;
• the growth in both the sophistication and number of different models now used by Government to contract with the private sector has increased the need for awareness of the pros and cons of each approach; and
• growing use of private finance to support programmes within local authorities, under central government oversight, has resulted in scarce commercial skills in the public sector having to be stretched across a larger number of projects.