Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Airport, and Stuttgart 21 – only a few examples of failed projects in Germany clearly indicating that the public sector needs to strengthen project management. And it is not just about infrastructure projects in Germany. Other challenges such as migration, digitalization, the massive change in energy sector as well as security issues – great challenges for the future are set in a world that is increasingly out of touch with many citizens. Citizens increasingly doubt the ability of the administration to shape the future of Germany. It´s not only about formulating political goals but also implementing them! “During the 2017 election year, the questions are even clearer: how can the confidence of citizens in their state and social cohesion be restored by successfully managing projects? How can politics and administration keep pace with the dynamics and complexity of the political challenges and gain new political competences” said Norman Heydenreich, GPM’s Representative in Berlin.

For the second time after 2015, the German Project Management Association GPM invited approximately 300 experts from all levels of public administration to Berlin in order to discuss ways of improving project management. Speakers and participants from all levels of administration in Germany discussed GPM´s action programme aiming at strengthening project management in administration. During my keynote I offered the full support of IPMA through exchange of international best practices and IPMA´s Global Standards.

The action program of GPM articulates the challenges as follows: A key to economic and societal viability lies in our competence to perform change and to implement ideas and initiatives through projects. This requires sufficient resources and competences of public authorities to plan and manage their projects across organizational, administrative, and federal boundaries, as well as the ability to involve citizens and stakeholders across society. The previously appointed Minister of Economy and Energy, Brigitte Zypries appealed to the public administration: “Public projects need professional project management. This is indispensable for the social acceptance and design ability. Modern project management ensures that public projects achieve their goals and remain in cost and time frame. Part of the management of large-scale political projects, e.g. the Digital Agenda, must also involve the integration of all stakeholders. Only in this way the processes are open and transparent.”

During an intensive dialogue with the administration the following ten action items were formulated:

1. Adequate preparation of federal, state and local government executives for their role in projects in order to strengthen the governing authority of contracting authorities.
2. Eliminate bottlenecks in the public administration when planning and managing projects, especially for infrastructure projects; Appropriate project management training and certification of all project managers of administration
3. Creation of a federal competence center for large-scale projects making available special competence for managing major projects and programs; Taking into account international and intersectoral experiences and standards
4. Establishment of a guideline for the governance of projects on the basis of common values ​​and principles in order to create clear structures of responsibility and a promising project culture for public large-scale projects and programs.
5. Development of project portfolio management competences for federal and state governments as well as municipalities
6. Reform of the legal framework for large-scale public projects and examination of new laws with their impact on public projects
7. Participation of the public administration in the further development of national and international standards in the field of project, program and portfolio management
8. Systematic competence development in project management, in particular with regard to the digitalization of the Industry and new forms of labor; Development of project management as a separate profession
9. Expansion of project management research and education in Germany
10. Review of the effectiveness of the measures through an interdisciplinary research program

During the conference the action program was handed to Brigitte Zypries. She expressed her support for project management in general and the intend of GPM to strengthen the competence in the public administration.

Brigitte Zypries (Minister of Economy and Energy), Norman Heydenreich (GPM´s Representative in Berlin) and Helmut Klausing (President of GPM); Source: GPM)