Public Sector PPP Project Management Succession Planning

Not Enough Focus on Management Succession Planning

In most instances the public sector initially focuses on planning and procurement of PPP projects, but unfortunately pays scant attention to the sustainable implementation and management of project contracts for the next 25+ years.? The public sector often forgets that long-term resources have to be committed to the management of contracts and monitoring of project delivery.

This unfortunate reality was once brought to my attention by a member of a PPP unit in eastern Europe who was concerned about the massive number of PPP projects that had been euphorically procured when communism ended and which were all simultaneously maturing. The contract manager/ PPP Unit head belatedly realized that members of the unit had little knowledge of the different project’s management during the previous 25 to 30 years and were unprepared for project handback. Unfortunately, it seems that little effort was made to ensure that project knowledge was transferred when public sector managers retired and new ones were appointed.? In essence, at best, succession planning was minimal.

It must be pointed out that the private sector is often better placed to project management succession planning as it is actively involved in the day-to-day management of projects and is answerable to their public sector contract manager counterpart.

Awareness of the Need for Succession Planning

Poor succession management planning is a major risk that needs accountable mitigation and resource mobilization and this needs to be acknowledged. APMG’s PPP Book of knowledge provides the following succession planning insights that are applicable to public sector entities. Its guidance acknowledges that because the life span of PPP projects is extensive, it is rare that the same staff and personnel will see the project through to the conclusion. Because of this, it is almost inevitable that the public sector contract managers are going to change several times throughout the life cycle of the project. This requires that new replacement staff will need some time to familiarize themselves with the details and the history of the project in order to successfully takeover the management of the PPP project.

Proactive Planning for Succession

APMG states that “planning for succession must be done at the time of writing the contract management manual. All the processes for transferring knowledge from staff exiting the project to new staff must be recorded. The government and private partner must ensure that, at any given time, the transfer of knowledge takes place and that lessons learned are logged, which will assist new staff in becoming familiar and gaining experience with the project.” This is sound advice and should be applicable to both the public and private sector managers.

Fostering Career Paths for Project Managers

Partnerships Victoria (2003) states that “the need for a comprehensive succession plan is related to broader governmental objectives: supporting contract management as a recognized career path, and the career advancement of contract management personnel.” It this recommendation is followed succession planning could be easily implemented.

How?

APMG recommends that the following steps be undertaken:

• The exit of old personnel needs to be accompanied by the transfer of a clear and documented history of the project, as well as a factual trail of all current issues and details to inform new personnel.
• Training for all new personnel with regard to the contract administration and the contract management manual is imperative to ensure that all the policies and procedures are clear and implemented in the same manner by the new personnel.
• A log of lessons learned (best practices) needs to be kept and updated in order for new personnel to familiarize themselves with these potential hurdles.

Conclusion

It is important to mitigate management success risk. In ?addition to APMG’s recommendations, I would add the following.

Exiting public sector (and private sector) managers, where possible, should be mentors to deputy project managers and immerse them in the project’s day-to-day management before they retire so that new managers are not overwhelmed with an archive of project management documents of which they have little practical knowledge of. ?It goes to say that for very large projects it is important to have a deputy project who can step in and takeover project management immediately should (unexpected) circumstances require it.