Recommendation 11

Implementation of the Project Initiation Routemap has been shown to have many cost reduction benefits and should be made standard practise for all public funded projects.

The Project Initiation Routemap[58] (Infrastructure Routemap) is a set of principles and assessment analytics designed to inform initiation, procurement and delivery strategy. The Infrastructure Routemap, developed in partnership with IUK and the construction industry, is aimed at improving initiation and delivery throughout the project lifecycle, particularly at the early phase of initiation, where decisions on project governance, requirements, risk and procurement can have the greatest impact on outcomes.

iBUILD research has highlighted how organisational design, including culture, goals, values, vision and people, is as important as task-oriented aspects, such as: work organisation and practices; procedures and processes; supply chain capabilities, technology and assets.[59*] The Infrastructure Routemap provides an objective assessment of the complexity of the organisation and delivery environment, and also of the capability of the sponsor, client and supply chain. The identification of any misalignment between critical success factors, key risks and opportunities can be identified at an early stage, allowing sponsors and clients to work together to improve delivery. Research by iBUILD has analysed a number of case studies and pilot implementations of the Infrastructure Routemap[60*] and revealed a number of significant benefits that include:

(i) Greater stakeholder support for the investment at an early stage through alignment and understanding of objectives, expectations and appropriate incentives.

(ii) More streamlined delivery achieved by systematically matching sponsor, client and supply chain capabilities and requirements.

(iii) Reduced delays and costs as a result of planning for transition between different phases of the infrastructure lifecycle.