Programmes fail at formation, long before delivery is blamed. The BDC Method™ is the standard for forming them right, measuring what is actually in place and fixing the gaps before they cost you. Your teams own it and run it, building delivery capability that stays in the business — whether you own the programme, or you’ve won the work and now have to stand up to deliver it.
Programmes rarely fail for lack of effort. They fail because the conditions for delivery — the governance, the controls, the discipline of the people running them — were never built to a standard, or measured against one, until it was too late.
The BDC Method™ names what a capable portfolio, programme and project must have in place, makes the requirement visible, and shows leaders where they stand against it — across every level, in their own numbers. The same standard measures a supplier’s mobilisation, from award to go-live, so design consultants and delivery contractors can evidence that they are ready to deliver — not just promise it.
The building blocks of capable delivery, each with a defined end state — what good actually looks like — across four capability groups.
A weighted, evidence-based assessment that turns the standard into a Programme Health Score and a banded heatmap — what is present, partial and missing.
A prioritised path to form what is missing and close the gaps to evidence — then re-assess to prove the uplift. Owned by you, and re-runnable.
One Method, expressed at every level, whether you are forming to it or measuring against it. Mapped to IPA, NAO, NEC4 and HM Treasury Green Book good practice.
The governance, controls and disciplines every capable programme runs on — accountability, planning, risk, change, finance, and the leadership behind them.
The standard expressed at the levels delivery actually happens at — from investment logic down to delivery on the ground.
Safety, planning & consents, environment, sustainability, design, commercial and quality — and the sector regime each programme answers to.
How a programme is stood up — the delivery vehicle, intelligent client, controls and commercial functions on which everything else rests.
Every check is judged Met, Partial, Not Met or Not Applicable — weighted by severity, evidenced, and rolled up to a single capability score at portfolio, programme or project level. A measure, not an opinion.
We run the assessment alongside the people delivering the programme and hand you a board-ready report with a prioritised path to close the gaps. Where you want to own it, the standard can also be run inside your organisation and re-run on demand.
Every check judged against its defined end state, on evidence — not assertion.
Scored by severity, so the result reflects the things that actually carry the risk.
A single capability score and RAG heatmap at portfolio, programme or project level.
A prioritised remediation path — then re-assess to evidence the uplift.
When a design consultant or delivery contractor wins a commission or a place on a framework, standing up the operating model to deliver it is a formation in its own right. The mobilisation standard forms that delivery capability to a known end state, measured on evidence — built on purpose, rather than discovered missing at go-live.
Preparation carries the risk of not winning — the exposure is wasted investment. The capability to be ready is built ahead of a decision that may not go your way.
The commitment is made and the clock is running — the exposure is being committed but not ready. This is the heart of mobilisation, where most of the standard sits.
Outputs are now due — the exposure is failure to perform. Capability that was meant to be formed in transition is tested against real delivery.
Each phase is measured against its gates — award, ramp-up, pre-go-live and post-go-live — with a baselined mobilisation plan, evidenced and verified readiness, and a live go / no-go position read from evidence rather than optimism.
Professional indemnity & liability, design responsibility, information management & BIM, and technical authority — the themes specific to a consultancy standing up to deliver.
Site establishment, plant & procurement, and construction safety & CDM — the themes specific to a contractor mobilising onto site.
A formation, not a delivery tool — it measures whether a supplier is forming the capability to deliver, not the delivery work itself. Set out in full in the BDC Method™ v1.1 (section 7). See the Service Offering →
The model is transfer, not dependency — your people learn what good looks like and run the standard themselves, with external involvement reducing to independent calibration.
Stand up a new portfolio, programme or project against the BDC Method™ from day one — the foundations laid before delivery starts.
A fixed-price assessment of what’s actually in place, a sequenced remediation plan — then re-assess to evidence the uplift.
Your teams run the instruments themselves under licence — form, assess and remediate on demand, without consultant reports.
The safety, planning, environmental and sustainability layers reflect the regime that governs your programme. The right edition is confirmed at the outset.
Ofwat, PR24 / AMP8, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Environment Agency abstraction.
Discharge permitting, the Environment Act 2021 storm-overflow regime, EDM monitoring.
ORR and the ROGS safety regime, CSM-RA, Network Rail standards, CP7, GBR transition.
National Highways, the Road Investment Strategy (RIS3), the DMRB standards regime.
Ofgem and the RIIO framework, the gas transmission price control, the low-carbon transition.
Environment Agency FCRM, partnership funding, asset condition standards and consenting.
Editions for other regulated environments — energy networks, nuclear, aviation, ports, telecoms, defence, healthcare and local-authority infrastructure — are produced on the same basis.
Tell us about your portfolio, programme or project, and we will help you see where it stands against the standard — and what to address first.