Module 02 | Strategic Choices: Governance, Capacity and Public Value

You can deliver a project perfectly and still make the wrong strategic investment. Learn to challenge the gap between ambition, resources and public value. Welcome to Module 2 of Strategic Portfolio Management, presented by INEX Global Institute. This lesson explains the strategic choice available within a portfolio and uses the National Audit Office’s January 2022 framework to examine six connected areas: purpose, information, planning, governance, alignment and risk. A delivery dashboard cannot establish value unless the underlying investment choices, capability and accountability also stand up to scrutiny. Historical case studies: the NAO framework contrasts the Ministry of Defence’s affordability pressures in its 2020£2030 Equipment Plan, reported in 2021, with DFID’s 2019 coordination in Somalia. It also describes DWP’s 2015 capacity mismatch, with IT demand exceeding supply by 20% and central-services demand by 9%. These are dated institutional observations, not current performance measures or proof that one method guarantees success. Use them to ask whether your funding, workforce and interdependencies actually support your ambitions. The £834 billion and 227 projects cited in this lesson refer to the UK Government Major Projects Portfolio as at 31 March 2024, discussed in the NAO’s March 2025 governance report. The reform discussion is historical: NISTA launched on 1 April 2025 and the UK’s 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy was published on 19 June 2025. GovS 002 applies within its defined UK government scope; it is not a worldwide legal requirement. Apply the lesson: choose one live portfolio and test its six areas. Identify the binding capacity or funding constraint, record the evidence gap, name the decision owner and agree what would trigger a pause, redesign or reprioritisation. Which ambition would you challenge first if your specialist capacity fell? Previous lesson ’ Module 1:    • Module 01 | Strategic Portfolio Management...   Next lesson ’ Module 3: Portfolio Governance:    • Module 03 | Portfolio Governance: Who Can ...   Watch the course in module-number order:    • Strategic Portfolio Management | INEX Glob...   Primary references and further reading: National Audit Office ’ Framework to review portfolios (January 2022; historical cases) https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/upl... National Audit Office ’ Governance and decision-making on mega-projects (2025) https://www.nao.org.uk/insights/gover... UK Government ’ GovS 002: Project Delivery https://www.gov.uk/government/publica... UK Government ’ NISTA launch (1 April 2025) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/go... UK Government ’ UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy (19 June 2025) https://www.gov.uk/government/publica... Subscribe to INEX Global Institute:    / @inex-global-institute   Continue learning about strategic project management, megaprojects, HSE, resiliency, AI, robotics and net positive project management. Share useful learning with your colleagues and community to build a better today and tomorrow. #StrategicPortfolioManagement #INEXGlobalInstitute #PublicValue #PortfolioGovernance #StrategicAlignment #Infrastructure #Megaprojects AI-assisted educational production; narration converted using the presenter’s authorised voice clone.