- Update on the Project Management Office
- Update on the review of the PPP contract
5:10pm to 6:00pm
Minutes:
The Leader, Cabinet Member for Business Transformation, Assistant Director – Customers, Commissioning and Change and the Business Transformation Manager attended to provide a progress update on the delivery of projects through the Programme Management Office (PMO) and to update Members on the review of the PPP contract.
Programme Management Office
The PMO provides a strategic management oversight of all priority projects and uses a RAG (red, amber, green) system to monitor their progress. A Gateway Zero board made up of officers from across the Council meets monthly to consider the projects that are received by the PMO and makes recommendations based on having the appropriate skills and resources required for the project, ensuring legal compliance, the delivery of ICT essential upgrades and alignment with the council’s priorities. The board had received 36 papers to date, of which 12 had been rejected/closed/paused, 2 were running as business as usual and 22 were approved.
Monthly PMO progress reports are produced on each project to provide key data on budgets, risk, timelines, objectives and the overall project performance rating. The monthly reports are reviewed by project sponsors and portfolio leads who are able to provide commentary on the projects. Currently there are 26 live projects and 15 completed projects.
The Business Transformation Manager highlighted some of challenges facing the PMO which included the need to deliver projects at pace and having limited capacity within the team to drive through bigger transformation projects.
In response to Members’ questions, the Business Transformation Manager advised that some projects are paused due to the need to re-prioritise resources. If a project entered into the process that was a key council priority, extra resources would be needed however they would require approval through the correct channels.
Members asked if there was a project to improve ICT access; the Assistant Director advised that they were looking at piece of work to drive forward ICT improvements and a refresh programme was currently underway for iPads that would bring better technology and reliability.
Members were advised that they could be given access to the PMO dashboard to see how projects were progressing.
PPP Contract
The current PPP contract expires in October 2020 and includes the requirement to carry out a contractual review in year 7 of the contract which was 2017. The options for consideration that had emerged from the review were:
· extend for a further 5 years with the opportunity to re-specify the contractual requirements;
· end the contract on its expiry in 2020 and re-procure contracts or return services in house;
· end the contract early and bring services back in house – the council would be subject to early exit costs and penalties.
All services offered by the current client had been reviewed and areas where service improvements were needed to support transformational change across the council had been identified.
Earlier in 2018, it was announced that Arvato CRM was to be placed under strategic review with the possibility of the company being sold, however more discussions were needed to understand the impact of the sale and timescales on CBC’s contract.
In response to Members’ questions, the Assistant Director advised that a saving had been made by running services through Arvato and a full cost analysis was needed before considering the options of running services in house. In addition, investment would be required to ensure the council had the staff with the right skills to drive through the service improvements that were planned.
Members asked if the council would be exposed to risks should the review take longer than expected. The Assistant Director advised that the current PPP contract required the client to continue to deliver services until 2020 and the Leader added that the risks would be managed to ensure we got the full value out of the contract.
The Chair thanked the Leader, Cabinet Member for Business Transformation, Assistant Director – Customers, Commissioning and Change and the Business Transformation Manager for providing the updates and answering their questions.
RESOLVED –
1. That the updates be noted.
2. That Members of the OPSF be given access to the PMO dashboard.