“Gap Trap? What is that…?” I hear you ask. Well, it's a very prevalent trap that many an infrastructure project team have stepped right into, often despite their best intentions. A gap which one would actually think is in plain sight and which should, with a little understanding and forethought, be avoidable.
It first came to my attention earlier in my career when doing a review for the Board of a large blue-chip UK construction company. This firm was in somewhat of a pickle, trying to fathom why they were losing a great deal of money despite having secured a valuable program of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Schools in the north of England. In simple terms, the issue boiled down to the fact that the team doing the bidding and agreeing the deals, was not the same team delivering the construction works. This was a critical gap; in knowledge, buy-in and continuity. The construction team were unaware of the promises that the bid team had made on their behalf and it was only when they got started and began to unravel the deal, they realised that they had unwitting stumbled into an awkward situation…a trap as it turned out, that was very difficult and costly to extricate themselves from.
Hence my awareness began to grow, and very soon the prevalence of the Gap Trap became evident in a range of projects, both large and small. It is a failing which is easily perpetuated. Many would agree that there are differing skill sets required and brought to bear in getting the deal closed on a project versus delivering the inevitable project and associated services. For some, the thrill of the chase and the stamina required to navigate the predictably long-winded procurement process, the buzz of the competitive tension, the cut and thrust of the negotiation process and the inevitable popping of the champagne corks when the financial close is reached, is what gets them out of bed in the morning. For others, the complexity of taking something represented by lines on a drawing or an architect's model and turning it into a real-life functioning piece of infrastructure, is the challenge and the satisfaction they crave.
Unfortunately, it is rare to find these traits captured in one individual (or team) and so, it is almost inevitable that the teams are switched in that honeymoon half-time period after the deal is done and before the first spade turns the sod. Herein lies the gap and in turn, the Gap Trap.
The lack of continuity between the two teams described above is one thing and should be self-evident. Many try and ensure that there is some form of involvement by the delivery team during the throes of the deal close, but unless you have lived and breathed the deal and have understood all the moving parts that constitute it, anyone brought in at a late stage remains on an often-turbulent voyage of unpleasant discovery through the delivery phase. The Gap Trap however is not just there to catch the unwary project teams, but the clients who procure these projects are also often at risk of getting themselves ensnared too.
In complex deals, for example those for a Public Private Partnership (PPP), client teams mirror that of the bid team, certainly in terms of the characteristics of the people involved. The client team too, inevitably ends up switching out after the deal close and the same lack of continuity issues prevail, and have similar consequences. However, the issue is often exaggerated in the fact that there is often little comprehension of the complexity surrounding the process for administering a complex deal, usually captured in legal documents a mile thick and complicated by performance and reporting regimes that take a lot of managing. Add to this the fact that some client organisations, particularly Government agencies, are not usually geared to administer complex projects, and may come with onerous obligations and lifespans exceeding 20 years!
These considerations open the jaws of the Gap Trap even wider, especially when considering the need for organisational re-structure, recruitment, skills upgrades, training, systems, process and software changes required to enable the contract administration – many aspects not thought of in time and, while the champagne glasses of the closed deal are clinking, the respective parties often unsuspectingly shuffle closer to the Gap Trap!