Major project lessons learned
Repeated failure to effectively apply lessons learned from past major projects, leading to recurring mistakes in cost and schedule management.
1,123 items
11 sources
16 inquiries
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#6 - Outline plans for embedding cross-government learning in future major projects.
Government departments do not routinely learn lessons from their own projects or those of other departments, so are missing opportunities to improve effectiveness and efficiency of future projects. Applying learning about what has been successful in major project delivery can bring great efficiency and reduced costs, particularly where standardisation of design is possible. Schools, hospitals and prison building...
Matched on
terms: lesson, major, project
Committee recommendation
100match
#48 - HS2 Euston exemplifies department's failure to learn from past major rail projects
The previous Public Accounts Committee also concluded in its 2023 report on HS2 Euston that it was another example of the Department making the same mistakes and failing to learn lessons from its management of other major rail programmes, highlighting the need for more work on cost estimation, the treatment of contingency and managing the integration of complex...
Matched on
terms: lesson, major, project
Committee recommendation
100match
#47 - Department and HS2 Ltd repeatedly fail to embed crucial lessons from major projects
However, the Committee has needed to recommend repeatedly that the Department and HS2 Ltd improve the degree they reflect on past or current experiences and implement any lessons. In 2020, the previous Committee made clear its dissatisfaction: 80 “Given the repeated emergence of issues across the Department’s major programmes, we are not satisfied that the Department is yet...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major, project
Committee recommendation
100match
#8 - Require the Department to report on lessons learned and their practical implementation to the Committee.
Over the last decade the Department and HS2 Ltd have repeatedly said they are learning lessons but there is little evidence that lessons have been applied effectively and mistakes avoided. Since 2013, the Department and HS2 Ltd have told the Committee that they have been learning lessons. This has included areas such as around management of costs and...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, project
Committee recommendation
100match
#5 - Restart centrally collecting and analysing lessons learned from all FCDO estate capital projects.
Some FCDO high-profile estate projects have run significantly over time and budget. FCDO carries out large scale estate capital projects to refurbish or replace its buildings, but some recent projects, such as in Washington D.C. and Ottawa, have run significantly over time and budget. This has been due to issues such as industrial action, unexpected problems in buildings...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, project
Committee recommendation
99match
#23 - FCDO fails to centrally log lessons learned from major capital projects.
FCDO told us it had conducted lessons learned exercises for both the Washington and Ottawa projects and does so for all its major projects. However, FCDO does not currently record all its lessons in a single central log. FCDO told us that its portfolio management office had stopped recording lessons centrally to allow it to focus on other...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major, project
Committee recommendation
98match
#5 - Detail lessons from large asylum accommodation site acquisitions and explain process changes to prevent recurrence.
We are not convinced that the Home Office has learned the lessons it identified from its costly acquisitions of large sites. The Home Office claims it has identified “over 1,000” lessons from its acquisition of large asylum accommodation sites. It argues that it had to be innovative in its approach to securing these sites and is proud of...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, project
NAO recommendation
94match
Lessons learned: Governance and decision-making on mega-projects
For mega-projects, HM Treasury and NISTA should strengthen the project gateway and business case approval processes to ensure that government has assurance about the affordability, value for money and feasibility of the project before it is given final approval to proceed. This might include only providing funding to take the project to the next stage of development and...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, project
NAO recommendation
94match
Improving the performance of major equipment contracts
The Department is developing a programme of important reforms, some of which are at a relatively early stage. To support this agenda and to complement the recommendations in our recent report on the Department’s 2020–2030 Equipment Plan, we recommend that: a) Programme teams should state explicitly in their initial business cases how they have applied lessons learned from...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major
Committee recommendation
89match
#5 - Twenty-Fourth - Crossrail: A progress update
The Department has still not demonstrated that it is embedding lessons learned into its major programmes. This Committee has examined many major transport programmes, such as HS2, Great Western route modernisation and Thameslink, many of which have had significant problems in their delivery. We have told the Department many times that it needs to learn lessons, from Crossrail...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major, project
Committee recommendation
87match
#3 - Demonstrate DIO has learned crucial lessons from contract delivery failures.
The DIO must prove it has learned lessons from the failures in the delivery of these contracts. (Recommendation, Paragraph 36)
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Committee recommendation
87match
#20 - Significant financial waste on previous projects indicates slow learning of lessons at Sellafield.
The previous Committee criticised the NDA in 2018 for failing to learn the lessons from projects it had cancelled after belatedly realising that there were more cost–effective ways to reduce risk (having spent £586 million of taxpayers’ money on three projects it had cancelled since 2012).51 The NDA told us that up to 48% of the money already...
Matched on
terms: lesson, project
Inquiry recommendation
86match
MAI-62 - LRF oversight of lessons from exercises and incidents
Local resilience forums should establish procedures to ensure that they oversee the process of identifying the lessons to be learned from major exercises, or serious incidents, in their areas, and that they are responsible for overseeing the debriefing of those events.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major
Committee recommendation
83match
#13 - Significant proportion of major government projects still lack an evaluation plan
The Treasury told us that the proportion of major projects that have been evaluated has improved since the NAO’s evaluation report. After our evidence session, the Treasury wrote to us and stated that 68% of infrastructure and construction of major projects have a high-quality evaluation plan. Across all major projects, 63% have at least some form of evaluation...
Matched on
terms: major, project
Committee recommendation
81match
#5 - Address HS2 leadership and capability gaps to ensure successful programme delivery
The Department and HS2 Ltd do not have the skills and capabilities needed to successfully deliver the programme. The Public Accounts Committee has repeatedly raised concerns over the Department and HS2 Ltd having the skills and capability they need. Following the cancellation of Phase 2, HS2 Ltd now needs to reinforce its capability, such as in commercial management,...
Matched on
terms: major, project
NAO recommendation
81match
Carrier Strike – Preparing for deployment
e) conduct in-depth lessons-learned exercises on the Carrier Enabled Power Projection projects. The Department should ensure that it assesses the factors that lead projects to succeed or fail, including the root causes, and disseminate the lessons so that they are reflected in its management of other programmes. It should also look to disseminate lessons more widely across government.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, project
NAO recommendation
81match
Completing Crossrail
For the Department’s other current and future major programmes: d) We note that the Department has completed a lessons learned exercise and we would encourage it to also apply the lessons to other major projects including High Speed 2.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major, project
NAO recommendation
77match
The challenges in implementing digital change
c) disseminate and apply lessons learned from the successes and failures of the past and seek to understand why digital strategies have made poor progress.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Inquiry recommendation
74match
MAI-128 - National systems to record lessons from exercises
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government should ensure that there exist robust national and local systems to identify and record the lessons learned from all multi-agency exercises and ensure that change is implemented as a result, where change is indicated.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Committee recommendation
74match
#18 - Establish principles for a just industrial transition drawing on lessons from the Grangemouth case.
In its response to this report, the Government should outline what has been learned from this case and what can be done to ensure that comparable industrial transitions will be better managed in future. Having consulted trade unions and communities during its consultation on Building the North Sea’s Energy Future, we recommend that the Government set out principles...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Committee recommendation
74match
#12 - NS&I leadership slow to act on advice, offering limited lessons from Programme issues.
The external organisations that have reviewed the programme told the NAO that NS&I was sometimes or often slow to act, or did not act at all, on advice.29 We asked whether NS&I’s leadership had learned from the issues with the Programme. NS&I offered two lessons: it acknowledged that it had over-estimated the complexity of the Programme; but then...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Committee recommendation
74match
#2 - Seek positive attestation on NS&I implementing culture review recommendations and leadership learning lessons.
NS&I’s positive news culture has meant it has not learned lessons, which has affected its ability to deliver the programme. NS&I told us that that it promotes a “can do” attitude and culture; while this has benefits in encouraging commitment to NS&I and to transformation, NS&I acknowledges that it has been over-confident about its ability to deliver 3...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Inquiry recommendation
74match
BAHA-46 - Lessons Learned Process
The MoD should consider whether the lessons learned procedures need to be adjusted or supplemented so that the clearer and more urgent lessons and changes to previous practice are fed back far more quickly both to the operational theatre and into the pre-deployment training cycle.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Committee recommendation
73match
#25 - Fiftieth Report - Bounce Back Loans Scheme: Follow-up
We were concerned that the Department should have identified these lessons when it supported businesses in the 2008 Financial Crisis. In 2010, the NAO’s report on the Department’s support to business during a recession concluded that the “impact [of the Department’s response to the financial crisis] could have been improved by thinking through how it might respond at...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Committee recommendation
72match
#2 - 18th Report - The future of the Probation Service
This is the second major probation reform programme in the last five years. The unplanned-for effect of covid-19 has only added to the challenges the Probation Service faces. The lessons of the previous, failed reforms must be learned, and the new model must provide a lasting solution that allows some stability to a vital and hard-pressed service.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major
NAO recommendation
72match
Progress on the Buckingham Palace Reservicing programme
Identify the lessons it has learnt and discuss these with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) and HM Treasury to decide a set of lessons for major projects, particularly for heritage projects and those taking place in a live environment. We have set out some potential lessons that could be explored.
Matched on
terms: lesson, major, project
NAO recommendation
72match
Rail reform: the rail transformation programme
Over the next year, DfT should develop its understanding of how it can successfully deliver rail reform, including any potential pilots it could undertake, so that it is well placed to advise ministers early in the next Parliament. This work should include areas such as: ? conducting a lessons learned exercise from its planning and delivery of rail...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major
NAO recommendation
72match
High Speed Two: Euston
As part of planning an affordable and deliverable station, DfT and HS2 Ltd should learn lessons from how other projects have approached a reset, including those we set out in our report on resetting major programmes. This will include having clear aims for the reset and establishing clear measures to monitor its success.
Matched on
terms: lesson, major, project
Inquiry recommendation
72match
SHI-6 - Information on common construction errors
It is important that common project errors are not repeated. One helpful step is to ensure health boards undertaking projects have information about such common errors, and that this information is clearly communicated to them. This would ensure that health boards are aware of such errors and thereby better equipped to avoid them. The information should be updated...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, project
PFD report
69match
Esther Jones
Significant delays in completing Serious Incident Reviews (SIRs) and disseminating lessons learned prevent timely improvements and risk further patient harm.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
PFD report
69match
Gordon Penistan
Other local authority Adult Services could benefit from lessons learned and actions taken in this case to address shortcomings, suggesting the need to share this information widely.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Committee recommendation
69match
#2 - Update Committee by June 2026 on operational improvements identified from Ukraine support.
Lessons learned from supporting Ukraine have made the Department examine its own decision-making and procurement processes, finding some of them in need of improvement. The Department has learned several lessons from its support for Ukraine. These include: the need for a mixture of high-end capabilities, such as Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, and affordable high-mass equipment, such as...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
NAO recommendation
69match
The government’s resources and waste reforms for England
Defra should carry out a lessons-learned exercise in advance of the formal evaluation of the reforms to determine practical steps that could be taken to help avoid the challenges it has faced recurring in its future resources and waste work. This should include an analysis of how Defra will ensure it improves its approach to: ? setting programmes...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
NAO recommendation
69match
Supporting local economic growth
• capture and apply lessons learned at key points in the design and delivery of new local growth funds.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
ICIBI recommendation
67match
A further inspection of the EU Settlement Scheme July 2020 – March 2021
Recommendation 2 Making best use of management information (MI) and ‘lessons learned’ and ‘improvements made’ stories, expand and regularly update its messaging regarding the length of time an application will take to process, making clear both how long it is taking for the majority of applications and the reasons why it may take longer for others. Regarding applications...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson, major
Committee recommendation
66match
#24 - Home Office failed to apply lessons from failed asylum sites, incurring significant financial losses.
The second of the IPA reviews, in February 2023, concluded that, while the Home Office had identified learning in relation to the failed site at Linton- on-Ouse, these lessons were not being applied to some of the asylum accommodation sites it was delivering at the time. The IPA stated that the impact of not applying those lessons would...
Matched on
terms: lesson
Committee recommendation
66match
#11 - Government does not routinely evaluate completed infrastructure projects to assess their success
Though government attempts to determine the success of a project through measures such as cost-benefit analysis, they do not routinely evaluate completed projects.19 The UK has used a variety of private financing models to deliver new infrastructure, including but not limited to: Contracts for Difference, which guarantee wholesale prices for generators over 15-year periods (e.g. offshore wind); Regulated...
Matched on
terms: project
Inquiry recommendation
65match
MAI-127 - Robust debrief systems for multi-agency exercises
The Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities should ensure that there exist robust national and local systems and sufficient resources to make sure that the debrief process following multi-agency exercises is effective to capture the lessons that need to be learned.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
NAO recommendation
65match
Increasing the capacity of the prison estate to meet demand
MoJ should improve its case for bolstering the resilience of the estate by evaluating: lessons learned from delivering the prison expansion portfolio; and
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
NAO recommendation
65match
Progress with the merger of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID)
The Cabinet Office should routinely gather and disseminate lessons learned from organisational changes across government. It should engage with all departments who have undergone MoG changes to obtain lessons learned and use this to review, update and publish its guidance on MoG changes at least every two years.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Inquiry recommendation
65match
R2 - HMP Maghaberry lessons learned
Many of the problems of HMP Maze in 1997 arose from the fact that by then it was the sole prison in Northern Ireland holding the most dangerous terrorist prisoners. We are aware that HMP Maghaberry is currently the sole maximum security prison in Northern Ireland. We recommend that the SOSNI and those with recently devolved authority should...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
NAO recommendation
64match
NHSE's management of elective care transformation programmes
The national level oversight board should play an active role in ensuring that lessons are learned on and between the transformation programmes. Practical steps may include reviews, workshops or problem-solving sessions to allow everyone involved to share their perspectives and experiences, and giving people the opportunity to work alongside other teams.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
NAO recommendation
64match
Government's general grant schemes
To achieve greater, proportionate monitoring and evaluation of grant schemes, the Grants Management Function should: (h) work with departments and the Evaluation Task Force to explore different approaches to identifying, sharing and using lessons learned, to inform and improve the design of future grant schemes.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
NAO recommendation
64match
Investigation into the UNBOXED festival
identify lessons for the future from the experience of how projects have performed against their targets, including on cost and attendance, and the split between physical and digital/broadcast audiences;
Matched on
terms: lesson, project
NAO recommendation
64match
Improving Single Living Accommodation
The Department (and specifically, DIO) should work with the Commands to introduce, as soon as possible, a booking system that is easy to use and reduces costs. It must ensure lessons have been learned from its previous experiences and from overseas defence bodies which have developed similar systems.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
Committee recommendation
62match
#33 - Department defends new Euston delivery body necessity due to project complexity and private investment.
We challenged the Department over the necessity and added risk of establishing an additional delivery body to oversee the works at Euston and its surroundings. The Department recognised that setting up new organisations is far more complex and difficult than is often thought, and that its experience with HS2 Ltd demonstrates that it is difficult to set up...
Matched on
terms: project
Committee recommendation
61match
#28 - Ensure Department and HS2 Ltd secure necessary skills for successful programme delivery.
The Public Accounts Committee has repeatedly raised concerns over whether the Department and HS2 Ltd have had the necessary skills and capability to deliver HS2 successfully. In 2020 the previous Committee cautioned that it was not yet convinced that the Department and HS2 Ltd had the skills and capability they needed either then, now or in the future.46...
Matched on
terms: project
NAO recommendation
60match
Support for innovation to deliver net zero
DSIT, working with DESNZ, should by October 2023 identify the lessons learned from the development of the cross-government Net Zero Research and Innovation Framework. These lessons should be documented and actively considered in future to aid consistent and effective support across government for innovation objectives, while recognising that there cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach. The aim should be...
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
IMB recommendation
60match
Cookham Wood (2024)
The Board recommends that there should be close scrutiny of the decisions taken in this restructure and re-roling of a YOI to determine lessons learned and how those lessons are being disseminated.
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson
IMB recommendation
60match
Lowdham Grange (2024)
Have lessons been learned from the transfer of prison management from one private provider to another at HMP Lowdham Grange, and is action being taken to avoid the significant negative impact on prisoners and staff occurring at any future transfer between private prison operators?
Matched on
terms: learned, lesson