The rise of the delivery partner Short Report

Delivery Partners to support the project owner/investor have become a familiar part of the major project landscape. The increasing use of a Delivery Partner across major projects and programmes is evidenced by the award of a 15 year contract by Anglian Water for a ‘Programme Delivery Partner’, a 5 year contract by MoD Defence & Equipment Supply for a ‘Project Delivery Partner’, and a ‘Programme Delivery Partner’ for the New Hospital Programme. This is not solely a UK phenomenon, as evidenced by the appointment of a ‘Client Partner’ for the MetroLink metro project in Dublin.

However, as indicated by the myriad titles used for this relatively new participant in major projects (e.g. Delivery Partner, Client Partner, Programme Partner, and Programme Delivery Partner) there are a number of variations to consider.

This seminar looks to demystify what is a Delivery Partner and what underpins appropriate use of this participant in a major project. The speakers and panellists will look at the associated success factors and issues associated with Deliver Partnersthrough a variety of lenses:

• What, exactly, is their role and how do they add value.
• The fundamental differences in the various options for a Delivery Partner.
• Learnings from across various sectors where a Delivery Partner has been employed.
• When appointment of a Delivery Partner is unnecessary and potentially value reducing.
• How to engage with Tier 1 contractors as participants within the Delivery Partner.
• Pointers from a joint industry / academia the study that has identified five themes to be addressed by both practitioners and academics to enhance their contribution in the future.

The seminar will also look forward to how the Delivery Partner might evolve now it has become embedded as an option that should at least be considered for a major project.

Annual Conference 2023 – In Pursuit of Outcomes: Foolhardy or Flippin’ Hard? Short Report

A quick scan of project management guidance, frameworks and methods will highlight the importance of 'outcomes'. Taking an outcomes-based approach features prominently in every revision of Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) since it was first published in 1999 and more recently in the Construction Playbook, the Value-Toolkit, Project 13, the IPA Routemap, the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery and HMT Greenbook… to name a few.

The UK is not alone in pursuing an outcomes-based approach. The former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed in 1997 for the UN to place greater emphasis on results in its planning, budgeting and reporting: "with the aim of shifting the United Nations programme budget from a system of input accounting to results-based accountability". This led to the launch of their Results Based Management (RBM) framework 1999.

Although not new, the desire to move to outcome-based projects is seductive given that delivering outcomes is the very reason for projects and programmes. But in practice, taking an outcome-based approach across the full project lifecycle and through the multi-organisation relationships has proven difficult. We often revert to specification-based or output-based approaches and methods. Indeed, a 2007 review of the UN's RBM framework concluded that despite considerable investment in RBM by UNDP that they were still "largely managing for outputs rather than outcomes and that the linkages between outputs and intended outcomes are not clearly articulated". The UNDP experience is not an isolated one and despite a general consensus that taking an outcome-based approach is desirable, projects remain stubbornly output-based 'in practice'.

Join us at our 2023 Annual Conference where we will tackle this challenge and explore ways of overcoming the 'as desired' vs 'in practice' gap. We will ask whether an outcome-based approach can ever be realised in practice. We will consider whether we should target its application to specific parts of the project lifecycle (e.g. scoping) or specific parts of the project organisation (e.g. the sponsor) or whether it needs to be an 'all in' approach for it to work. We will look at how legal and commercial factors affect the alignment of work to outputs to outcomes and their relationships to social value.

We will explore such issues and opportunities by hearing contrasting experiences from several case studies (that push boundaries) from Heathrow's third runway, the Lower Thames Crossing, the Atomic Energy Agency's STEP programme, the New Hospitals Programme and the East Bank Programme which is regenerating parts of East London around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. As is customary at our conference we will seek practical conclusions that members can apply in their own organisation, such as how to better frame projects and set up their execution strategies using outcomes. Delegates will be invited to contribute, through a workshop, to the development of our 'outcomes in practice' report. 

Please note, the date for the 2023 Annual Conference has shifted from 2-3 October to 9-10 October. 

Due to limited availability, this event is open to Main Reps and/or nominated representatives only. Please email sascha.flint@majorprojects.org if you have any questions.

Annual Conference 2022 – Escaping the Major Projects Echo Chamber (REVISED DATE) Short Report

This Annual Conference was postponed from September 2022 following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Registrations remain in place for those confirmed to attend and joining details will be circulated in January 2023.

Over the course of the 40 years since the Association was formed the approach to major projects has continually evolved in response to the delivery environment of the day. Today's delivery environment is unrecognisable even from just a few years ago, let alone from the early days of the Association. We may need radical changes, but if we continue to refine our approach based on memoirs of past successes are we in danger of incrementally solving past problems rather than those of today and tomorrow? To free ourselves from the shackles of past paradigms we need to escape the major projects echo chamber. 

At last year's Annual Conference we considered the past, present and future practice of initiating and delivering major projects. We identified some current practices we'd like to consign to the past and some practices we'd like to bring back. When considering the future we concluded the pace of technological change, aligning to socio-economic drivers, the urgency of addressing and avoiding environmental catastrophes and the general volatility of geopolitics would mean that major projects and the way we deliver them will need to be different. 

This year's conference builds on that and looks at how they will be different due to four paradigms that do not fit our current and future needs: 

• A hierarchical delivery model. 
• An inherently linear project lifecycle in a complex dynamic world. 
• Simplistic ROI or Cost-Benefit models that do not reflect how we get value from systems. 
• An assumption of infinite resources where growth is the goal/solution. 

Are there non-hierarchical delivery models already available and it's just a case of applying them more widely (e.g. Construction Playbook, Project 13, Value Toolkit)? 

Do we need a portfolio approach to major project delivery, where each project is adaptive to emerging needs and opportunities within the overall 'system'. This may require us to rethink our current focus on requiring firm ROI or Cost-Benefit commitments per project up front. 

Have we become selfish toddlers in our competitive pursuit of growth and all things new? Do we need to re-learn how to share, re-use and repurpose? How do we marry owner/stakeholder competitive expectations and non-growth solutions in a major project context?

These questions need to be addressed for all types of major projects whether that is for infrastructure or other major projects such as policy and transformation. 

The conference will be delivered as a physical event and we are offering one space per organisation on a first come, first served basis (additional spaces may be available closer to the time of the event). Spaces are offered at no charge (attendance is covered under your organisation's membership fee) and include accomodation at the venue for the evening of Monday 12th September.

The conference is currently fully booked. Please let us know ASAP if you are no longer able to join us, as we do have a waiting list in place.