Isle of Man

The Isle of Man Government, like its neighbours, is grappling with the challenge of ageing infrastructure, with substantial and sustained investment required to ensure it remains safe, reliable, and fit for the future:

• Coastal Defences: increasing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, with existing sea walls not designed for evolving weather patterns.
• Port and Harbours: the ability to safely and consistently move people and goods to and from the island, via air and sea, is critical to the economy.
• Energy: reducing reliance on fossil fuels and subsea interconnectors, transitioning to more sustainable and resilient energy generation.
• Buildings: large swathes of public property, including schools and healthcare facilities, require expansion or replacement to meet 21^st century demand.

The infrastructure projects, while smaller in scale compared to their neighbours, are critical for the island’s economy, connectivity, and quality of life. Odvantage were appointed to Chair the Major Projects Board, providing independent oversight on the more complicated investments, sharing perspective and connecting best practice to the project portfolio. Our deliverability assessment often reflect:

• Limited Resources: the island’s budget and workforce are finite, requiring careful resource allocation to ensure a sustainable local supply chain;
• Geographic Constraints: the location adds further complexity to logistics, including the ability to attract interest from non-island supply chains;
• Specific Needs: projects must cater to the island’s population, diverse demographic, and economic profile.
• Public Scrutiny: island communities are closely involved in project developments, so must always stand up to rigorous examination.

Working alongside colleagues from The Treasury, Odvantage leveraged lessons learnt with our wider client partners, to critically reflect on where project delivery could be enhanced by the MPB. This helped to shape the core functions of the Board, including:   

• Providing expert oversight of critical elements across all stages of major projects, delivering advice and commentary on proposed initiatives.
• Assurance of operational need and deliverability of capital projects as part of the Project Development Fund bid process.
• Establishing robust governance, implementing a gateway approvals process for the maturation of business cases, and monitoring of capital projects.
• Strategic Risk Assessment, including appropriateness, financial risks (including optimism bias), capacity implications, and deliverability.
• Safeguarding the reputation and values of the Isle of Man Government, ensuring compliance with regulations and best practice.
• Transparency and accountability, evaluating economic impacts and delivery objectives, ensuring that projects positively contribute to future growth.

As the Board was a fresh initiative aimed at speeding up and improving project delivery, our initial reviews revealed several common opportunities, notably:

• Clarity: there was not a well-established process for the review of projects, with the purpose of the MPB not well understood by all stakeholders.
• Consistency: the level and format of information provided within business cases did not consistently address “why” project investment was justified.
• Capacity: a lack of clear definition on procurement and delivery capability, with a corresponding lack of supply chain visibility of a realistic project pipeline potentially inhibiting innovation and growth investment.

Our focus was to work with each Sponsoring Department and Delivery Agency to unlock these opportunities and accelerate investment.

Odvantage’s work with the Board plays a crucial role in ensuring the effective delivery of a diverse portfolio of major capital projects, including:

• Development & Regeneration
• Energy & Resilience
• Buildings & Places
• Social Infrastructure

Our work included due diligence on the definition and deliverability of capital projects as part of a Project Development Fund process, aimed at achieving “better business cases: better outcomes”.

Whilst still in its infancy, the Board has already had a positive impact in shaping improved projects on the island:

• Case for Change: we strengthened the information within project business cases such that they consistently addressed the justification for project investment, with better business cases achieving better outcomes. This supported an improved framework for assuring that public resources are used proportionately to the costs and risks involved, and take account of the context in which an investment decision is to be taken.
• Feasibility: we brought clarity to project scope, making it simpler to assess whether projects were viable and deliverable within the requested funding envelope. This included guidance on the level of information that would be beneficial in establishing project context, constraints and intended outcomes.
• Implementation: we critically reviewed the robustness of implementation plans, including the requirements on contract selection, procurement, and delivery capability. These issues were constructively discussed with the Sponsoring Departments, such that investments remained attractive to the supply chain, and provided opportunity for inward investment, skills development and growth.

The outcomes of our reviews have primarily focused on providing objective assessments of projects to help Ministers make informed decisions on the investment justification, cognisant of the need to deliver value for the public purse, such that projects are set up to be successful from the outset.

Many of the projects reviewed by the Board are still in development or delivery, so it is too soon to objectively assess outcomes achieved.