The vision underlying Action 10 is to strengthen programme and project management as a professional discipline within the Public Service in order to support better management of both current and capital programmes and projects and thus deliver better outcomes for the citizen.

Developing and maintaining the Public Service’s capacity to programme and project manage initiatives is critical to the success of key Government priorities. These disciplines require the ability to clearly identify priorities and effectively allocate resources, monitor progress and deliver results.

Action 10 seeks, in particular, to:

• To provide a forum to share common project management approaches and learning based on proven models currently in use across the Civil and Public Service;
• Assist with the identification of the competencies required for a range of project, programme and portfolio roles, and the associated training and education which would facilitate personnel to fulfil these roles. This will involve sharing learning between project management practitioners and training bodies and will enable greater professionalisation;
• Build on the programme management experience developed since the establishment of Programme Management Offices in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the major sectors through engagement at Action 10 Team Workshops and at the Project Manager’s Network;
• Review the Reform and Delivery Office’s Practical Handbook on Programme Management and consider ways of embedding its use across the Public Service.
• Consider how we sustain the work developed by both Action 10 Team and Action 17 Civil Service Renewal Team into the future.

This action is being jointly led by the Secretary General of the Department of Defence and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces. The sponsors are Assistant Secretary General, Department of Defence, and Assistant Chief of Staff.

Eight core initiatives were identified by the Action Team for prioritisation and the successful progress of these, assisted by the IPA, is outlined here.