Purpose

Currently the level of SYMCA project management resource engaged on Mass Transit is insufficient to deliver this £627m project at the required pace. The dearth of resource is now significantly compromising delivery. The actual level of PM resource is estimated to be less than half the resource needed.

A new organisational structure has been developed, which sets out an ambitious expansion of the team to address this shortfall via the creation of permanent roles.
A prolonged and extensive campaign to recruit permanent PMs has met with only limited success. Two of the six vacancies have been filled to date, one of which has been filled by an internal candidate within the Mass Transit project team (so no net resource gain). The PM vacancies have been advertised on 3 separate occasions – in February 2025, April 2026 and July 2026.

As an interim measure to mitigate the shortage of resources, it is proposed to recruit two agency PMs, each of them on 6 month contracts.

The total cost of engaging the 2 agency PMs is £145,000. It should be noted that this is an interim solution to fill permanent vacancies which have a cost per se.

Decision

Approve the appointment.

Alternative options considered

1. Do not appoint, resulting in a lack of skills and resources to deliver the committed Mass Transit outputs.

2. Approve the appointment.