Improving performance in Local Authority/Private Sector partnerships
We believe that partnerships are not successful because of the contracts that frame them or the targets imposed upon them. Experience has shown us that in medium or long term partnerships between Local Authorities and private sector organisations, it is the ability of the people on the ground (at project level) within these partnerships to work together effectively that will determine whether these partnerships actually deliver or not. If they are to be managed in any meaningful sense, we also need to be able to demonstrate where partnerships are working well, where they are not, and where we need to look in order to improve them.

Together with Halcrow, who have long term partnerships with a large number of local authorities within the UK, we have developed a structured approach where the goal is improved partnership performance and where measurement is a constructive means to uncover what needs to be done in order to improve. Within Oxfordshire County Council, for instance, we are guiding partnership project teams through the development of the measures which would indicate that their particular project team is on track as a “good project” - a concept which is about building partnership capability well beyond the delivery to time and to budget.

Keeping Local Authority projects sustainable
A key topic for local authorities at the moment is project sustainability. Several of our clients are concerned that although they embark on ICT projects for good reasons and with a sound business case, the service envisaged is not sustainable and quickly gets crowded out by new priorities and different concerns. This is a slightly different version of the problems central government has getting IT systems to deliver benefit.

With our partners ALCO (www.alco.eu.com) we are discussing with councils here and in Ireland how to move sustainability centre stage. Part of the basis of this work is an ODPM project called FAME (Framework for Multi-Agency Environments) (www.fame-uk.org). Despite the acronyms this is all about who needs to talk to whom on what basis if there is to be a way to roll things forwards both technically and in terms of objectives and governance arrangements.