Assessing the maturity of public construction client organisations

The construction sector is changing, and commissioning organizations have to rethink the way they approach the market. This is especially important for (semi-)public organizations, because of their importance in the sector and their social responsibility. The 'Public Commissioning Maturity Model' (PCMM), first presented in 2014, can give guidance for further professionalization of client organizations. The objective of this model is to create insight into the nature and impact of characteristics of public organizations as determinants of their professionalism as public commissioning entities regarding construction. As a result of six workshop-based discussion sessions with mixed groups of employees of four housing associations, a transport organization and a central government organization, the value of the model was determined. In this paper the results of these sessions are presented and communal discussions within commissioning agencies investigated are portrayed. The findings resulted in changes to improve the usability of the model for the construction sector, as well as implications to increase the understanding of the model for workshop participants. Adjustments regarding stylistic issues and elements in the maturity model and supporting materials were also made. The model has proven to be an effective means to elicit discussion and awareness of public commissioning. It is however not configured for numerical ranking, sector-wide monitoring or benchmarking purposes while these needs also do exist among client organizations. Furthermore, it was found that the model is less suitable for organizations in the middle of a comprehensive change process.