The days of doing shabby jobs, failing major projects or cutting corners to use inferior materials for projects after collecting money from the Government or failing to meet stipulated deadlines may be over soon as Vigilance can authoritatively report that the Major Projects Review Board (MPRB) meeting yesterday expressed grave concern over non-accountability in public projects delivery and vowed to hold some of the MOD’s most expensive projects to account.
The Major Projects Review Board (MPRB) was established by Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, to deliver tighter financial controls across the Department.
Vigilance learnt that any project that the Board decides is failing will be publicly “named and shamed” such includes a project that is running over budget or behind expected timelines. This will allow the public and the market to judge how well the MOD and industry are doing in supporting the Armed Forces and offering taxpayers value for money.
Dr Fox warned: “I want to send a clear message across Defence: reckless spending stops here. Too often there has been too much reliance on industry’s self reporting of time delays and capability deficits, rather than a transparent process to track performance. I am tired of the National Audit Office reporting on projects that are running over time and over budget. Where projects are falling behind schedule or budget I will take immediate measures. I want shareholders to see where projects are under-performing so that the market can take action. Those responsible for poor project management must be brought to account.”
It is said the MPRB will examine the top 50 equipment projects managed by the Department with a total value of more than £100 Billion.
Our Defence team gathered that the projects that the Board will review each quarter will be identified through the MOD’s improved reporting and review processes. Relevant programme managers will be called before the Board and asked to account for the performance of their project and identify problems to be resolved. After appearing at the Board those projects that are still under-performing by the next quarter will be published on the quarterly “Projects of Concern” list.
However, projects will be taken off the Projects of Concern list if they have shown improvement.
Amongst the projects said to be considered yesterday were: Watchkeeper – a UAV surveillance system with a main contract value of £635m; Falcon – a communications system with a main contract value of £315M; and the Valiant Jetty Project (SSN Berthing) – which will serve the new Astute class submarine at the Naval base in Clyde – with a main contract value of £134M.
The Defence Secretary unveiled plans for the MPRB, which he chairs, earlier this year. Other permanent members include: Peter Luff, Minister for Defence Equipment Support and Technology; Bernard Gray, Chief of Defence Materiel; and Vice Admiral Paul Lambert, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Capability).