Measuring project management maturity in NSW local government

Local government (councils) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, are responsible for the management and delivery of numerous projects that can be in various fields such as information technology, engineering, planning in addition to many others. Council budgets for capital works can vary from less than $2 million in smaller councils to over $100 million in city councils. Noting the importance of project delivery in the public sector, specifically local government, and the differences in operation of each individual council, it is no surprise that each council adopts its own project management methodology, if at all. By identifying, analysing and investigating the nature of project management in local government in Australia and internationally, a framework can be developed for use by local government authorities in NSW. Prior to developing the framework, the existing project management maturity of local government organisations must be determined. This is done using a project management maturity model. By comparing existing models, a suitable project management model can be chosen specifically for NSW local government. Once the existing project management maturity level is known, local government organisations can improve their maturity level, which has been shown to improve project success.