Let’s talk about public projects!
SERIES ARTICLE
By Stanisław Gasik
Warsaw, Poland
Introduction
Risks – possible negative or positive effects of uncertainty – are present in every project in every sector. Risk management is responsible for reducing threats’ likelihood and impact while increasing opportunities’ likelihood and impact. In the public sector, it is particularly important due to the project team’s accountability to the public interest.
Public projects face the same risks as those in other sectors, such as schedule overruns, cost overruns, or low-quality outcomes. However, there are also risks specific to the public sector, such as those stemming from close ties to the political environment. The overall structure of risk management processes in the public sector is similar to that in other sectors. However, these processes have certain characteristics specific to the public sector. Some governments consider the level of risk to be one of the key factors determining whether to initiate projects and require mandatory risk assessments for every project initiative.
This article consists of three main sections:
- Public project risk categories
- Risk management processes in the public sector
- Risk profiles
Some categories of public projects’ risks
Public projects face general risks that are common to projects in all sectors, such as risks related to poorly defined requirements, schedules, costs, technical solutions, or product implementation. The second group of risks includes those specific to the public sector.
The range of risks threatening public projects is virtually unlimited and can impact any component of the project implementation process. In the following sections, we will focus on the risk categories most specific to public projects.
Some of these risks may also appear in other sectors—for instance, politicians might attempt to influence projects aimed at establishing independent private media—but they are primarily relevant to the public sector.
Risks to public values
Why is a public project undertaken? To deliver what society expects but is not provided by the commercial sector. What society expects is generally referred to as public value (Moore, 1995). Examples of public value include quality education, efficient public institutions, minimized unemployment, improved healthcare, and more. The business risk of a public project lies in failing to deliver the desired outcomes related to public values—essentially, undertaking projects whose results are unnecessary. Launching unnecessary projects can stem from poorly defined public policies.
Examples of business risks in public projects include constructing underutilized railway lines or introducing programs at public universities whose graduates struggle to find employment.
There are several ways to minimize such risks…
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Editor’s note: This article series is related to the management of public programs and projects, those organized, financed and managed by governments and public officials. The author, Dr. Stanisław Gasik, is the author of the book “Projects, Government, and Public Policy”, recently published by CRC Press / Taylor and Francis Group. That book and these articles are based on Dr. Gasik’s research into governmental project management around the world over the last decade. Stanisław is well-known and respected by PMWJ editors; we welcome and support his efforts to share knowledge that can help governments worldwide achieve their most important initiatives.
How to cite this paper: Gasik, S. (2025). Public projects are full of risks. Let’s talk about public projects, series article, PM World Journal, Volume XIV, Issue I, January. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/pmwj148-Jan2025-Gasik-Public-Sector-is-full-of-Risks.pdf
About the Author
Stanisław Gasik, PhD, PMP
Warsaw, Poland
Dr. Stanisław Gasik, PMP is a project management expert. He graduated from the University of Warsaw, Poland, with M. Sc. in mathematics and Ph. D. in organization sciences (with a specialty in project management). Stanisław has over 30 years of experience in project management, consulting, teaching, and implementing PM organizational solutions. His professional and research interests include project knowledge management, portfolio management, and project management maturity. He is the author of the only holistic model of project knowledge management spanning from the individual to the global level.
Since 2013, his main professional focus has been on public projects. He was an expert in project management at the Governmental Accountability Office, an institution of the US Congress. He is the author of “Projects, Government, and Public Policy,” a book that systematizes knowledge about government activities in the area of project management.
He was a significant contributor to PMI’s PMBOK® Guide and PMI Standard for Program Management and contributed to other PMI standards. He has lectured at global PMI and IPMA congresses and other international conferences.
His web page is www.gpm3.eu.
To view other works by Dr. Gasik, please visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/stanislaw-gasik-phd-pmp/
