New CBI briefing, More than managing, highlights how government and business can work together to ensure more public contracts are delivered on time and on budget.
At any time, central government departments alone are estimated to be managing over 100,000 contracts, with the wider public sector responsible for considerably more.
Over 30,000 civil servants are also involved in overseeing these partnerships – which is a significant commitment of resource. As a result, effective contract management is critical to the public finances.
Despite this, it is widely acknowledged that contract management remains a key area for improvement in the public sector. Common issues include a lack of clarity about desired contract outcomes, poor data collection and irregular review of KPIs.
And the impact of this has been significant, complex national projects, such as Crossrail and the Emergency Services Network are just a few of the contracts highlighted as underperforming due, at least in part, to poor contract management.
Changing for the better
Driving a step change in how contracts are managed will therefore be a significant challenge, and one that will require both short-term a
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