The OTR GroupMany project teams use stage gates and assurance reviews without ever reading the guidance behind them. The UK government publishes a functional standard for project delivery, known as GovS 002, that sets out its expectations. This article summarises a few of its points in plain English. The standard applies to government bodies, so treat it as a useful reference rather than a rulebook for private-sector work.
What GovS 002 is for
The standard is published by Government Project Delivery and the Cabinet Office. Its stated aim is to set expectations for the direction and management of portfolios, programmes and projects, ensuring value for money and the successful and timely delivery of government policy and business objectives. It applies to portfolios, programmes and projects undertaken within or across government departments and their arm's length bodies, regardless of the delivery methodology or techniques used. The current version, 2.1, was published on 1 September 2025.
It does not prescribe stage names
A common assumption is that the standard dictates a fixed set of stages. It does not. It says it does not define what the project life cycle stages should be, only that they can be mapped to its reference life cycle. In other words, the stages should suit the work.
Assurance comes before big decisions
The standard says assurance reviews shall be scheduled prior to significant decisions, such as contractual commitments and gates. It also says the gap between assurance reviews of the whole project should not be scheduled to exceed one year. For government major projects, the approach is set out in an integrated assurance and approval plan, validated by HM Treasury and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA).
Keep testing the business case
The standard says the business case should be reviewed prior to every gate or decision point to justify continuing the work. This is a healthy habit for any project: at each gate, ask whether the reasons for starting are still true.
Learning from experience
One of the standard's principles is that experience and lessons are captured, shared and used to promote future performance improvement. It is easy to leave this to the end; the principle suggests treating it as part of how the project is run.
Borrowing the ideas: a short checklist
- Define your own stages, and write down what a decision at each gate can be.
- Schedule an assurance review before any major commitment, not after it.
- Re-read the business case before each gate and note whether it still holds.
- Set a maximum interval between whole-project reviews, and put it in the plan.
- Capture lessons as you go and say who will use them.
A caution
GovS 002 is written for government. Your organisation may have its own governance, contracts and regulators, which come first. Use the standard to prompt good questions, and read the full document on GOV.UK before relying on any detail here.
Sources: Government Project Delivery and Cabinet Office, "Government Functional Standard GovS 002: Project delivery" (gov.uk/government/publications/project-delivery-functional-standard and projectdelivery.gov.uk). General information only.