The scourge of megaprojects is the speed of decision making

As I wrote earlier, in most large-scale projects the cost of one day of delay amounts to tens, or even hundreds of millions of rubles!

The cost of a day of delay is a very effective indicator that puts a lot of things into place. This parameter should be known to the key stakeholders of the project!

The main delays occur due to the long approval cycle both inside and outside the project (obtaining permits from departments and government agencies).

Internal delays are most often caused by the timing of approvals according to regulations, developed, as a rule, for operational activities. The most striking example is purchasing procedures in large companies, aimed at the planned collection of needs and the formation of lots to obtain the maximum discount every six months.

In addition, the process of monitoring and supervising projects in large companies acquires numerous approvals at commissions, committees, various levels of project offices and auditors. We often see in such companies and government. structures, there is a flourishing of "helpers" and "controllers" who, with the best intentions ("this is what you need!") impose methodologies, reports and audits divorced from reality on project teams. Moreover, these "helpers" themselves, as a rule, live in the central offices of companies and go to sites once a year, as part of business tourism, and have little understanding of the realities on the site.

We are often able to achieve a reduction in the time frame for internal approvals in large-scale projects at the central processing centers. There is a key detail here - it is very important to determine the priority of what needs to be accelerated and what can wait, so at the centralized operational centers we always consider prioritized deviations and risks with an objective assessment of the impact (for example, through a full reserve) on the timing and other parameters of the project. Since the top officials of companies participate in the CIRPs, it is possible to bypass many regulatory restrictions with their influence.

Obtaining permits and approvals from government agencies, despite the emerging movement of "regulatory guillotines," still remains quite a big obstacle for large-scale projects in our country.

The experience of our potential "partners" is interesting here. The United States has created a special agency with strong powers to speed up approval processes and obtain permits in megaprojects. I think this experience is relevant for study and application. The main thing is that no new "helper-accelerators" appear.

https://www.route-fifty.com/infrastructure/2022/07/new-federal-agency-seeks-speed-permitting-megaprojects/374475/