Our Assurance Offer

Delivering on time and to budget is the goal of every project as it commences its delivery journey. At no time has this been more desirable, or more difficult to deliver, in a world where budgets are under pressure, the economic environment more uncertain and timescales more challenging. The good news is that there are assurance tools available to organisations and project teams to use to enhance their chances of success and navigate this challenging a delivery environment successfully, ‘external assurance’.

External project assurance tools

Utilising external project assurance tools can help in a number of ways. Firstly, they provide an independent and objective perspective on the project’s progress and performance. This unbiased view can help identify potential risks, issues, and areas for improvement that may be overlooked by the project team due to their close involvement. Secondly, external assurance can enhance stakeholder confidence as it demonstrates a commitment to transparency and accountability. It reassures stakeholders that the project is being managed effectively and that their investment is well-protected. Lastly, external assurance can contribute to the project’s success by recommending best practices and lessons learned from other projects, thereby improving project management processes and outcomes.

Gateway Review

The Local Partnerships Gateway Review is an external assurance product developed to support local authorities and other public bodies to deliver projects successfully. Usually undertaken at one of five key points in the project lifecycle, the review comprises of a short document assessment followed by a series of stakeholder interviews. These are undertaken with people from both within and outside the project team and provide a unique ‘360-degree perspective’ of the project. From this the Local Partnerships Gateway Review team can make an accurate assessment of the likelihood of project success and what recommended changes should be put in place to ensure that happens.

A critical friend

Local Partnerships’ approach is founded on constructive criticism and collaboration. A gateway review is not an audit, but a process designed to improve delivery and ensure success. It is undertaken with the project team not done to them. Individual stakeholder input is undertaken on a ‘non-attributable’ basis to ensure a culture of trust is maintained and our regular informal feedback to the client SRO through the review ensures that the evidence behind our conclusion and recommendations is clearly understood on completion.

Team peer support

A key feature of a ‘Gateway’ review is the participation of a ‘review team peer’. On each review we try to ensure that at least one of the team is drawn from a similar client organisation and is experienced in delivering similar projects. Users of ‘Gateway’ often highlight peer input as an aspect they particularly value as their insight, alongside the Local Partnerships team, is always relevant, well founded and drawn from direct experience. Our network of external peers draw value from their own participation and often comment on the benefits brought back into back into their own organisation this provides. ‘Gateway’ is just one of the many project assurance services we at Local Partnerships offer.

The Local Partnerships’ assurance offer

We have undertaken well over a hundred such reviews and can offer a range of hugely experienced reviewers across a range of sectors (transport, housing energy etc).

If you would like to talk about how Local Partnerships and Gateway can support your project or just want to know more about our assurance offer then contact me, Kevin Jones, link below.