Public sector projects encompass a variety of features which are different to those of the private sector. The following principles are typical:
- The focus is less on financial goals than in the private sector
- The project is designed to have a long life
- There are links and cooperation with different stakeholder groups
- The projects are often large-scale
- They depend on the political discourse and the political environment
- There is a defined project management process
Another commonly observed feature of public sector projects is that they are under intense pressure to be executed efficiently, deliver visible and sustainable results and benefit the public. It is not uncommon for the media to pick up on projects that fall behind schedule or fail to produce the desired outcome. Frequent points of criticism include non-adherence to schedules and budgets as well as the waste of taxpayers’ money. Well-known examples from the German-speaking “DACH” region include the construction of the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg and Berlin Brandenburg Airport. In both cases, a combined lack of risk management, optimism bias and incomplete planning led not only to a drastic extension of the project duration, but also budget overruns that required political justification. But Switzerland also has examples of suboptimal project planning that have been covered in the media. For years, the Swiss federal railway company, SBB, has had to justify issues related to the purchase of Bombardier trains and address the consequences of this decision.
Digitalization projects also regularly come under scrutiny even if the project is at an advanced stage of completion. An example here is the BLS project to replace the “RailOpt” software, which was launched in 2016. Three years into the project, the planned software changes were found to be too costly. In 2019, the project had to be written off with an impairment loss of more than 20 million Swiss francs. The federal government also faces challenges in the area of digitalization and transformation. These topics often attract media attention, which in turn influences the social consensus regarding efficiency and use of taxpayers’ money in the public sector. Many high-profile public sector projects have failed not only because of challenges already familiar from the private sector, but because they have come under additional public pressure.
Defining project success