Most of us, without much thought, can name at least one contract that has made the headlines for the wrong reasons. Often these are contracts for infrastructure where there is scale and complexity; transport, health, defence, information and communication technology and digital goods and services.

In January the Comptroller and Auditor General of the UK National Audit Office (NAO), Gareth Davies, gave his annual keynote speech to Parliament. This year the speech was titled ‘Improving Productivity Could Release Tens of Billions for Government Priorities’.