Our past reports on complex government programmes and projects have demonstrated that value for money has often been compromised by a lack of commercial skills and experience. Further evidence set out in this report, confirms that there are still shortfalls across government in the commercial skills needed to deliver these projects.
The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and departments share responsibility for developing the commercial skills and experience needed across government, a priority recognised since 2000. Progress has been made particularly on the identification of skills gaps within departments and project assurance. The OGC and departments have not, however, always worked together effectively. Some important issues have not been addressed fully and the initiatives that have been taken forward have so far had a limited impact. As a result, value for money is at risk for approximately £200 billion which will be spent on the 43 projects and programmes in the Government's Major Projects portfolio. While close monitoring of these projects goes some way towards mitigating this risk, there is a greater risk to value for money on many other complex government projects where skills shortages are not being assessed as systematically.
There has been duplication of spending by the OGC and departments on similar initiatives and a lack of uptake of other OGC initiatives by departments. As a result, the value for money of the £1.5 million a year that the OGC has been spending on initiatives primarily aimed at improving commercial skills, is also at risk. The OGC and departments need to agree and then carry out a coordinated, coherent and targeted strategy addressing these issues.