19 The Department does not rigorously review whether it is continuing to secure value for money across the lifecycle of its projects and programmes as costs and schedules change. The Department requires programme teams to present a value-for-money (VFM) case to justify the chosen contracting approach for each programme. In the programmes we examined, affordability and a limited choice of contracting solutions frequently determined the definition of VFM. Once a programme is on contract, the operational need for delivery as soon as possible means that issues with cost increases and delays are rarely acknowledged within the Department as compromising VFM. In eight of the projects and programmes we examined, the Department's accounting officer has formally reported to Parliament where programme cost and/or time parameters have been breached, or are likely to be breached. None of these submissions stated that VFM was affected, although not all addressed the issue directly. The Department does not currently evaluate the extent to which contracts where the equipment has entered service have delivered VFM, although it has plans to upgrade its approach to programme evaluation (paragraphs 5.2, 5.3 and 5.9 to 5.11).
20 Although Departmental teams have identified learning from their own experience, many had not systematically learned lessons from other contracts. Teams' current analysis of the risks they face indicate that they are aware of the challenges discussed in this report but can find it difficult to mitigate them. We saw good examples of teams identifying and collating learning from their own and others' experience, but the depth and maturity of this work varies significantly. In some cases, it appears the same lessons are learned separately by different teams; for example, on providing GFA to the programme. Embedding good practice more widely would offer the opportunity to reduce the assurance processes currently in place and enable teams to demonstrate that they have acted to avoid past mistakes and reduce programme risks (paragraphs 5.12 and 5.13).