Turn pipelines into strategic planning tools

The transparency of the infrastructure project pipeline has improved since the 2016 Plan. However, the associated benefits of improved project scheduling and workforce development will only be strengthened further if information within the pipeline becomes more detailed and available.

A genuine, high-quality pipeline represents a transparent, dependable and comprehensive perspective of future work across sectors. It should be feasible for industry to deliver and consider the entire work program.

Governments can elicit considerable internal benefits by considering critical inputs and internal and external constraints then using them as an input to 'smooth', 'sequence', or 'phase' future works. This approach is considered good practice portfolio management as it ensures supply can meet demand in both elevated and reduced periods of activity.

Furthermore, a stable infrastructure pipeline underpins broader economic policy. A good example is how infrastructure is currently being used in Australia and around the world as an economic recovery mechanism from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ensuring project scheduling responds more effectively to local industry capacity:

• enables the public and private sectors to direct people, equipment and related resources to where they can deliver optimal value

• delivers an expanded project pipeline with less risk of cost escalation and delays

• leads to fewer materials shortages16

• minimises low-productivity practices such as triple shifts

• avoids hyper-escalation of input prices (when goods, services and labour shortages force ever-higher costs), the cost of which is ultimately borne by the taxpayer.17

This shift should be a priority. Australia has already been facing an ongoing skills and materials shortage in the infrastructure sector and this situation is likely to get worse. More and more, countries that have traditionally provided Australia with skilled professionals are competing for these individuals as they too ramp up their infrastructure spending.

The United States alone has proposed a USD 2 trillion infrastructure strategy.18

Further increases in demand will likely result in further negative impacts in the form of cost escalation and delays. Portfolio management can ease pressure on a sector that is critical to Australia's economic recovery.

While funding decisions should remain at the discretion of governments, it is in everyone's best interests to understand market capacity and sequence work accordingly. This will assist in avoiding delays, reduced build quality, or excessive prices rises for scarce resources.