Post-completion, or ex-post, reviews provide a means of assessing the performance of planning and delivery processes for recently completed projects. They provide a means to learn from experience and apply any lessons to future projects. Although such reviews normally occur shortly after project completion, there is scope to establish processes for longitudinal reviews at set intervals into the future, regarding such measures as traffic forecasts.
Ex-post reviews are not currently undertaken by Australian governments as a matter of course. Even when such reviews are completed, the results are rarely reported and discussed.
Business cases for major infrastructure projects must draw from cost benefit analyses that often rely on forecasts of the direct and wider benefits of a project, generally over the short, medium and long-term (30-year forecast period). Comparing the actual performance of an infrastructure project against the assumptions upon which the decision to fund and construct it were based can provide meaningful data with which to improve future planning and project development processes.
Improving the accuracy of economic forecasts for projects within the infrastructure sector can provide benefit not just to the implementation and operation of future project planning processes, but also to the broader decision-making framework under which projects are selected. Prioritisation of funding according to the best available, consistently applied economic methodologies allows projects to be scoped and selected in a way that delivers greatest benefits across the economy.
Critically examining the successes and failures of infrastructure projects through ex-post reviews can provide governments with a simple means of improving future planning and delivery of publicly funded infrastructure projects. This information should be made available to all governments, investors and stakeholders through a single national source in order for the benefits of the critical reviews of infrastructure projects to be fully realised.
Audit finding 22. Post-completion reviews are not regularly undertaken for infrastructure projects, limiting the opportunities for governments and others to learn from mistakes and successes. This is to the detriment of current and future decision-making processes. |