ICE's submission to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee inquiry - the government's management of major projects

The key focus of the submission is to reaffirm those recommendations previously put forward in ICE’s policy paper on reducing the gap between major project cost estimates and outturns. That paper can be found here and its recommendations are:

• Infrastructure owners should complete scope, design and exploration before commencement of work is allowed, to avoid scope creep or retroactive changes, taking steps to include contractors in design at an early stage.
• The Government and infrastructure owners must move away from capital cost as the most important metric when assessing project benefits, recognising the importance of whole-life economic, social and environmental value.
• Principles set out in the Outsourcing Playbook should be mandatory for Government infrastructure owners, this includes infrastructure owners undertaking should-cost modelling to help inform their expectations and knowledge of appropriate tender prices during the procurement process.
• It should be mandatory for all public infrastructure owners undertaking procurement to award contracts based on a cost estimate range, using a should-cost estimate as a reference point, with an amount of contingency allocated appropriate to the level of project maturity.