Auditor-General Report Releases Surprising Statistics about Capital Projects

Sunday, 8 August 2010

Auditor-General Finds Lags in Capital Projects CapexPRO Means Serious Business

The Auditor General last month released this years Budget Initiatives audit report detailing the serious lag in Capital Project Works. The report specifically focused on how agencies had delivered the initiatives for which they received funding in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 budgets.

Although funding for new recurrent and capital initiatives in 2007-08 and 2008-09 budgets was significant ($199 million and $378 million respectively), Auditor-General Ms Tu Pham found there were significant delays in completing several infrastructure and capital works projects. "Agencies did not perform well in the implementation of the capital initiatives.  About 45 percent of selected projects were not completed on time and within budget" with "agencies spending less than 50 percent of the funds provided during the years under review" stated Ms Pham.

"Delays in completing projects could cause additional financial costs to the territory and reduce the effectiveness of the Government's overall budget strategy,'' she continued.

"Agencies must review their existing performance reporting systems to improve the monitoring and reporting of project performance, especially against project milestones; and undertake and document post-implementation reviews of the project to identify any lessons learnt that may assist in the delivery of future initiatives."

Coinciding the release of these reports, CapexPRO, the total project and program management web-based system rolled out it's second version, which has been specifically enhanced to address these recent issues. It was developed with capital projects and program management principals in mind to facilitate the complete replacement of existing manual systems to improve the management of initiatives effectively on time, within budget, and with intended objectives that require disciplined processes.

Taking advantage of extensive and relevant consulting experience, existing user base and developed client network, developer Ian Kremmer, specialist capital works project and program management consultant explains his motivation behind CapexPRO, "I believe now is time to raise the bar for high-quality intelligent systems. There is further scope for improvement in monitoring, reviewing, and reporting, in particular, key lessons learnt that can make a significant contribution to the delivery of successful projects in the future".

"Times have changed and people want results with a click of a button. There is an urgent need to upgrade systems and improve productivity and ultimately return on capital investment. The apparent lack of a system like CapexPRO increases the risks for organisations not achieving value for money, appropriate quality of projects and the intended outcomes they want," concludes Kremmer.

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