The Projects and Procurement Sub-Committee met on Tuesday 8 September 2026. The committee discussed the P3 maturity assessment and the Commercial, Change & Portfolio Delivery Risk Register update. The committee noted the assessment outcomes, endorsed the roadmap for proposals, and agreed to approve the third option for assessing maturity within the organisation, with the decision on an external assessment to be revisited.

P3 Maturity Assessment

The committee received a report on the P3 Maturity Assessment, which evaluated the maturity of project, programme, and portfolio management practices across the City of London Corporation. The assessment, which involved over 80 responses from practitioners, confirmed previous findings of Project Management maturity at Level 3 (defined process) and Programme and Portfolio Management maturity at Level 2 (repeatable process). These results were found to be comparable to the average for large organisations.

The assessment identified strengths in Organisational Governance, Financial Management, and Risk Management, but highlighted Benefits Management and Resource Management as areas requiring improvement. A roadmap was proposed to achieve Level 4 maturity in Project Management and Level 3 in Programme and Portfolio Management by September 2029. This roadmap includes a mid-point self-assessment in March 2028 and an externally commissioned assessment by September 2029, with an estimated cost of £25,000.

During the discussion, members raised concerns about the £25,000 cost for the external assessment, with Deputy Timothy Butcher proposing that this be deleted from the recommendations and a business case be presented if the skill set was not available internally. Deputy Anne Corbett also questioned the ambition of the three-year plan, suggesting the timeline could be tightened. The committee agreed to note the assessment outcomes and the benchmarking, endorse the roadmap for proposals, and approve the third option for assessing maturity within the organisation, with the decision on the external assessment to be revisited.

Commercial, Change & Portfolio Delivery Risk Register Update

The committee received an update on the Commercial, Change & Portfolio Delivery Risk Register. The report highlighted that Corporate Risk CR33 – Project portfolio strategic impact and/or financial value – remains at an AMBER rating and is being actively managed through the embedding of the P3 Framework, strengthened portfolio governance, and improved oversight of cashflow and funding assumptions.

Progress has been made in embedding the P3 Framework, with 283 live projects assessed and approved. Portfolio Boards are now exercising delegated authority for Tier 1 projects, reducing the volume of decisions escalated to committees. The Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (EPMO) has also begun an end-to-end review of P3 lifecycle processes, with improvements expected to simplify practitioner experience and strengthen integration with Finance and Procurement.

The committee noted the updates on the current risks. The Chairman, Deputy Benjamin Murphy, commented on the positive steps forward, including the clearing of old projects and the increasing professionalism within the organisation, and indicated a willingness to review the risk rating of items when the register is presented again.

Other Business

The committee also received an update on the annual responsible procurement report. The Chairman highlighted positive media coverage of the report and noted a question from a Barbican resident regarding the social value to the Square Mile. This led to a discussion about potentially amending procurement weightings to favour supporting City of London and UK businesses, and considering the social value generated by procurement processes. Officers were asked to review this.