According to the Treasury of the Republic of Cyprus a project exist only after a decision has been made to address a specific need, funding is available to support its execution, and measurable goals and objectives are well defined. In a more concrete term “a project has a defined start (the approval, or a decision to proceed) and a defined end (the achievement of the goals and objectives). It is a one – off activity and would not normally be repeated”.
The setting – up or design or definition of a public project is closely linked with public procurement. If a public body aims to implement a particular project e.g. to build a school, to rehabilitate a road, to equip governmental departments with computers, software, to deliver IT training, etc. it will have to purchase works, supplies or services correspondingly.
On the other hand, “procurement begins with a design phase in which the needs are identified, investment is appraised, business case is developed, feasibility study is performed, costs, risks, and time are estimated, Project Fiche is prepared and approved and Project Management Team is appointed”.
Generally, this is followed by the pre – tendering phase which involves the strategic considerations regarding the conduction of procurement. Then comes the tendering phase in which tender documents are prepared, proposals are invited, evaluated, and accepted or rejected. Award of the contract is followed by the implementation phase in which the execution of the contract is managed.
Research shows that 70% to 80% of the developmental budget is spent through procurement in executing various infrastructure projects. However, in most cases end results had never reflected value for money!
Reason behind this state of affair is that, Project Managers especially in public financed projects know very little if any about professional project management which is crucial towards achieving the best value for money and their appointment is surrounded by ambiguous selection criteria.
According to the PPRA’s Annual Performance Evaluation Report for the financial year 2014/2015, “the performance is below the target level of compliance on contract management and implementation (70%)”.
On value for money audit, the report shows that “projects audited had fair performance but with significant weaknesses which if not properly addressed some of the intended project objectives would not be achieved and value for money is unlikely to be realized”
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For the sake of today’s article, I would like to highlight the qualities of the members of a Project Management Team.
In a nutshell, they should be able to:
• Understand project plans and monitor plans against progress;
• Understand and act on the factors that affect the successful implementation and delivery of the project;
• Formulate and maintain good relationship with all stakeholders and
• Understand very well how the project is being affected by various parameters.
Most importantly, the Team Manager/ Project Manager must be more experienced in the technical aspects of the projects. This means that the Team Manager must have educational background and professional experience relative to the project’s subject.
Also, selection criteria should be clear in order to ensure selection of appropriate team members. Answers to the two questions below are some of the tools recommended by professional project managers to ensure significant selection criteria:
1) Do the selected people have participated in training programs concerning project management methodologies, practices and tools?
2) Apart from the professional experience and qualifications the selected people possess, do they have the interpersonal characteristics required to ensure that they will fulfill successfully their duties?
My personal experience in public entities shows that, selection does not consider the above technicalities but only seniority and other factors best known to the appointing authorities. Please take note that, participation in those teams is associated with special allowances and other privileges!!!
Conclusively, I urge the government and other stakeholders to address the above highlighted shortcomings because not only corruption leads into poor standards of final products but also ignorance and negligence. Remember that, “failure to plan is planning to fail”.
The author is an authorized Procurement and Supplies professional.
E-mail pmutabirwa@yahoo.com
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