Trident nuclear plans ‘overambitious’, IPA warns

The UK government’s plan to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system is ‘overambitious’, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has warned.

The IPA’s new report to the Cabinet Office and the Treasury in London has said the Ministry of Defence’s £43 billion plans to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system and construct a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for the Clyde is ‘unachievable’. It puts this down to the projects being poorly managed, over-budgeted and full of technical problems.

The report covers 143 projects run by 17 UK government departments.

The Ministry of Defence has launched a major reorganisation and set up a new Submarine Delivery Agency in order to try and combat the issues. It also renamed the programme ‘Dreadnought’ and tried to delay project delivery.

Four projects in the report received the worst rating, ‘red’, which the report says means: “Successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable. There are major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable. The project may need re-scoping and/or its overall viability reassessed.”

The four projects include Urenco Future Options, A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down, M20 Lorry Area and Core Production Capability.

Tony Meggs, chief executive of IPA, said: “The purpose of the Annual Report is to give a snapshot of the major
projects currently in delivery, and to provide analysis of how well they are performing each year. This year, we continue to see slow and steady improvement, with most projects’ Delivery Confidence Assessment (DCA) ratings improving as they progress on the GMPP.

“Nevertheless, the majority of government projects are complex, and there are still many areas for further improvement. We are building a Performance Framework that will enable us to better understand project performance over time, and we continue to work with government departments and industry to improve the way individual projects are being delivered. One of our priorities is to build the necessary delivery capability in government so we have the very best people managing our projects.

“The most recent data indicates that Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) turnover is falling, and project leaders are spending on average three to three-and-a-half years in post on projects. If this trend continues, then it is a good sign, as consistency and continuity in project leadership are key for successful delivery.

“Another vital component is ensuring projects are initiated in the right way, a theme we draw particular attention to in this year’s report. Evidence shows that the best way to ensure successful delivery is by setting up projects correctly in the first place. The most common causes of failure are well rehearsed: lack of clear objectives, insufficient resources, and over-ambitious cost and schedule, among others. All these mistakes can be avoided if tackled early and effectively.”