Increasing transparency of Government's business case approvals process

5.6  It is important that all spending commitments are properly scrutinised to ensure that value for money is being achieved. Projects may need to go through several approval stages, and expenditure above departmental delegated limits will require Treasury approval. There was strong feedback from the private sector during the call for evidence process that Government's approval processes appear to be drawn out, and in particular that there is no visibility to the private sector about where a business case sits at any point in time. This is particularly relevant in the pre-procurement phase, when industry is keen to understand the progress of potential projects coming to market, and during the competitive process when extended approval processes can impact directly on the private sector's costs of bidding.

5.7  As part of a wider commitment to ensuring industry has the information it needs for business planning purposes in relation to public sector projects the Government intends to increase the visibility of its approval process. A business case approval tracker for PF2 projects, and for PFI projects in procurement, will be published on the Treasury website in spring 2013. It will provide a status updated of a project's progress through the approval process. Chart 5.A illustrates what this will look like.