PA
PERS
Criteria/Country Norway Denmark Sweden
The
Netherlands
United
Kingdom Quebec
Who initiates the
QA process?
Ministry of Finance Ministry of
Transport
Agency A designated
government
agency
A designated
government
agency
A designated
government
agency
Government Parliament Agency or
Government
A designated
government
agency
Treasury1 Council of
Ministers
Who determines the
budget?
Parliament Parliament Agencyor
Government
Government Treasury Government
Sectors included2 All, with some
exceptions3
Transport sector Transport sector Infrastructure
projects
All sectors4 Infrastructure
projects
(million)
NOK 750 DKK 250 No No Large projects5 CAD 50
Who appraises the
project?
Agency or
ministry6
Agency Agency and
regional authority
Responsible
government
agency
Agency or ministry A designated
government
agency
External
consultants
External
consultants
A designated
government
agency, and
internally
A designated
government
agency
Independent
quality assurers7
A designated gov.
agency
Requires co-funding
from promoters
No No No, but may
happen
For all in excess of
EUR 60 billion
Desired, but no
requirement8
To be considered,
not required
Budgeted cost P85 (normally) Basic calculation
1 20% 9
In the portfolio Estimate plus
supplement
Estimate plus
supplements10
Target cost P50 (normally) Basic calculation
1 10%
Budget11 Estimate plus
supplement
Budget
Decisionpoints2 2 2 3 5 5
QA or advisory
interventions
2 2 Ongoing 1 6 Ongoing
Transparency Yes Limited Limited Limited Some Limited
Portfolio
management as
part of the scheme
No No No Yes Yes Yes
Notes:
1Concerns approval of business case; the line ministry may have determined the choice of concept much earlier
2Some countries may have different schemes in some sectors
3All, except for health, oil/gas, and state enterprises
4Central government infrastructure investments and ICT/restructuring projects
5No threshold value; relevant factors are size, complexity, requirement for a separate statute, and the degree of innovation
6External resources are drawn on in some cases, from the private or public sector, including QA resources
7Both private and public sector technical experts
8This varies between sectors
9The 20% supplement is managed at the portfolio level and is transferable from one year to the next
10The government should be informed if it is anticipated that the budget will be overrun
11Recently based on stochastic cost estimation (P50).
Table 1: A comparison of the governance schemes in six countries.
