Lessons Learned from Major Projects
Summary
Government programmes range from transport infrastructure, military capability and nuclear projects, to digital programmes or government building improvements. To secure best value from the significant amounts of public money the government has committed, it is crucial that it can successfully navigate the challenges of delivering its major programmes. However, government programmes often encounter difficulties, taking longer and costing more than planned, and not delivering the intended aims, with significant and high-profile consequences.
National Audit Office have examined major programmes across different parts of government and at different stages over many years. Their work has directly supported Parliamentary scrutiny of government programmes and provides an independent evidence base to inform the public about how government programmes are performing.
Scope of the report
This report draws together insights from the recent reports on major programmes, including on Crossrail, Carrier Strike and Universal Credit. While there is a wealth of literature and courses on major programmes, NAO repeatedly see similar problems. Many of these problems have their roots in four key areas: scope, planning, managing interdependencies and oversight.
This report examines the root causes of the issues NAO see most often and why they think these occur, in order to identify learning points that NAO think government should focus on in order to improve its performance on major programmes.