A SmartBuyer specialist led development of the full business case for a new hospital build, working alongside the organisation’s project and finance teams to meet HM Treasury governance requirements.
to HM Treasury standard
CLIENT
Public
healthcare body
CATEGORY
Capital
business case
SPECIALIST
Business case
& governance
OUTCOME
HM Treasury
governance met
Under HM Treasury guidance, a public capital business case is tested on five fronts: the strategic need, the economic value of the option chosen, the commercial deal, affordability, and whether the project can be managed. Reviewers read across all five, so a figure that differs between sections, or an option picked before it was properly compared, is found and sent back for rework.
The usual failure is a case written to justify a decision already made. A hospital business case has to stand as an independent, evidenced appraisal, which is a different skill from delivering the build, and one that rewards having taken public capital cases through approval before.
A public healthcare organisation developing a new hospital, with a full business case to produce to HM Treasury governance requirements before the capital could be approved.
Client identity not disclosed.
The specialist led the case from the strategic need through to final assembly, working with the project and finance teams who held the clinical, cost and delivery information it depended on.
SHAPE
Establish the strategic case
Defined the need for the hospital, the objectives it had to meet and the benefits the spending would be judged against, so every later option could be tested against the same yardstick.
APPRAISE
Test the options on evidence
Compared the shortlisted options on cost, risk and value, and tested the commercial approach alongside them, so the preferred route was chosen on evidence and not on the option favoured at the outset.
ASSEMBLE
Build the commercial, financial and management cases
Developed these cases for the preferred option, covering how it would be procured, whether it could be afforded within the public funding available and how it would be delivered, then assembled the full document.
Approval-ready
A full business case for the new hospital was completed to HM Treasury governance requirements and is ready to go to approval.
The organisation can show how the preferred option was selected over the alternatives, giving approvers and later reviewers a clear record to rely on.
Costs, affordability and delivery arrangements were set out before the money was committed, so the case rests on assumptions that have already been challenged.
Independent options appraisal
Reviewers ask whether the preferred option beat a credible alternative, including doing the minimum. The specialist set each option against a do-minimum baseline and stress-tested costs for optimism bias, the known tendency in capital projects to understate cost and overstate benefit. The case then showed reviewers how the choice was reached, not only what it was.
Reconciling the sections for scrutiny
A full business case is read as one document. The specialist reconciled the sections with one another and with the economic appraisal before submission, so affordability figures and delivery plans matched the assumptions behind the preferred option. Inconsistency between sections is a common reason a case returns for rework, and rework costs time the programme may not have.
Complete
Complete
Complete
Specialist support without a permanent hire
SmartBuyer matches organisations with experienced specialists across 250+ categories, giving budget owners access to focused business case and public capital governance expertise exactly when the work demands it.
500+
specialists
Experienced specialists who have led business case development to HM Treasury and public governance standards inside large organisations and public bodies.
250+
categories
Focused coverage across capital projects, business cases and the wider public spend base, matched to the project in hand.
Flexible
engagement
Specialist cover for a single business case or a wider programme, scoped and costed before any work begins, with no permanent hire.