A new government procurement technique which will affect construction, IT and PFI projects is to save millions of pounds for front line services, says Andrew Smith, chief secretary to the Treasury.

The technique - ‘Gateway Review’ – has been introduced by the Office of Government Commerce to deliver value for money and complete major civil government projects successfully. The Government believes £150m could be saved initially, with £500m being saved annually in about three to four years time.

Major, complex or novel government acquisition projects will pass through a series of five ‘gates’ at key stages in their lifecycle to test their procurement viability.

Gate 1 - justify business case
Gate 2 - approve procurement method
Gate 3 - approve award of contract
Gate 4 - test whether project is ready to go live
Gate 5 - identify if project has delivered planned benefits

Reviews are to be short (approximately four to five days) and intensive and fit within existing project timescales.

Andrew Smith said: “Through the OGC we now have a commercially minded reliable management system that can be applied to every major Government project. Failure in big projects doesn’t come cheap and is no longer a concept that the public is prepared to accept in the development and construction of major government projects.”

Peter Gershon, the OGC’s chief executive said: “I am confident that the Gateway Process can make a huge difference to the way the public sector procures large Government projects. The OGC Gateway Process is based on techniques that have been tried and tested in the private sector and provides senior managers in government with the powerful tool to help manage these projects better in future.”

Jessica Jarlvi