The Irish government and project failure

Briefly Research a public sector project. Describe the project and suggest why it failed with reference to the Lars Mieritz "Gartner Survey Shows Why Projects Fail" article. 

The project I have chosen to discuss is the new children’s hospital which is currently being built on the St. James hospital site. This project has yet to be completed but will already be deemed a failure on the following grounds.

·         Will finish over budget

·         Not completed in the projected time scale.

·         Not all amenities which where required will operate as planned.

Gartner describes the above as some of the main reason as to why projects fail. I will now demonstrate how each of the above apply to the project I have chosen.

 The plan for the new children's hospital began almost 33 years. Applying the time scale element to the project, it was first reported that the new hospital would be built in 2015, however in 2012 An Board Pleánala refused planning permission for the site at the Mater hospital. Since then the site has moved to St. Jameses hospital. Leo Varadkar announced that the hospital would open in 2020, however this has now been pushed back until August 2022.

In order for a project to be deemed successful it is also required that the budget comes in within the budget allocation. Yet again the Irish Government have displayed their poor project management of the hospital. Originally the project was set to cost €790 million, yet most recently the project now looks set to cost in the region of €1.4 billion.

As Gartner says “Many large projects fail because business conditions keep changing after the project scope has been set, leaving a significant disconnect between the agreed-on scope and budget versus what the business will require and pay for by the time the project is delivered”.  The Irish Government have done exactly this. Perhaps the case could be argued that the Government are perhaps not as careful as they would be if it was their own business.

If we look at some of the amenities that the hospital where to have, one of which was to have a Helicopter pad on site for emergencies. This will be located on the fourth floor but unfortunately the coast guards helicopter is too heavy and will have to land at least a mile away where an ambulance will finish the journey. This could have been avoided if the green field site at Connolly hospital had of been chosen.

If we look at what is known as the triple constraint two of the key elements of project management is time scale and cost, both of which the Irish government have failed to manage.

It would seem the Government have also lacked adequate planning for this project. Far better options where available and which would have eliminated the parking issue which will arise in the new children's hospital, ease of access, all which cause for needless stress at a time where calm is of the essence. Perhaps the government should look at outsourcing future projects and leave them in the hands of those who will look out for the interests of the entire country,

Going forward the government should as stated by Gartner

“ need to be aware of and address changes in the environment, and understand that cost, scope and schedule are not weighted equally. By maintaining close ties to sponsors and stakeholders, and being upfront regarding the trade-offs between functionality scope and schedule, expectations can be re-calibrated on an ongoing basis, thus improving success rates.”