Recognising exceptional achievement in advancing the project delivery function across government.
The Best Practice in Project Delivery Award is a team or individual award recognising exceptional achievement in advancing the project delivery function across government.
It celebrates teams and individuals who drive system-wide improvements, enhance project delivery maturity and embed continuous improvement in ways that enable their organisation and the wider function to deliver better outcomes for citizens and government.
The Drug Testing Service project was established in 2018 to procure contracts enabling drug testing of offenders in prisons, probation, and approved premises. After several unsuccessful procurement attempts due to COVID-19 and quality issues, the project reset in 2022 with a comprehensive lessons learned exercise.
The team implemented the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery, conducting gap analysis and maturity assessments to identify priorities including planning, risk management, and stakeholder engagement. Vision and ways of working workshops strengthened team relationships and established clear principles. The project embedded continuous improvement through quarterly reviews, pulse surveys, and lessons learned sessions.
Contracts were signed in January 2025 and went live in July 2025, achieving green ratings in gate 4 and 5a reviews. Whole life costs reduced from £184 million to £58.6 million through a strong commercial strategy. The flexible contract design supports rehabilitation services, manages reoffending risk, and enables identification of drug misuse trends to inform treatment services.
The NHS AI Lab, launched in 2019 with £143.5 million investment, accelerated safe and ethical AI adoption across health and social care. Despite COVID-19 disruption and budget reductions, the programme delivered transformative impact through 5 workstreams:
The flagship AI Awards funded 86 projects, delivering £44 million in benefits through improved treatment timeliness and increasing stroke thrombectomy rates from 1% to over 10%. The programme created over 120 jobs, safeguarded over 80 jobs, and attracted £59.5 million private investment.
Key innovations included the National COVID Chest Imaging Database with 98,000 pseudonymised records, the AI and Digital Regulations Service supporting over 7,000 users. Ethical frameworks including OxonFair and STANDING Together are now embedded in guidance from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
The lab’s Gate 5 review rated closure preparedness green, establishing a permanent AI function ensuring lasting system-wide transformation.
The Targeted Case Review project delivered exceptional results, recruiting approximately 6,000 reviewing agents to assess over 1.5 million Universal Credit claims, identifying over £1 billion in savings and future incorrectness prevented by March 2025 – and achieved by a core team of just 25.
Formed to address COVID-19-era benefit fraud and error surges, the project embedded robust governance including structured boards, project assurance reviews, and multi-disciplinary team working.
Using the Continuous Improvement Assessment Framework, the team identified delivery gaps and within 12 months exceeded functional standards in 9 of 10 areas.
Innovation was central to success. The Agent-Led Insights initiative captured frontline expertise, driving Universal Credit system improvements. One agent pioneered video calls for deaf customers, winning the 2024 Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Award.
The initiative created thousands of jobs across 25 UK sites in economically deprived areas, with operational attrition under 5% versus the department’s 9% average. The business case projects £1.45 billion savings in 2025-26 from £303 million investment, setting a new benchmark for fraud and error detection across government.
Judges look at how the team or individual:
Judges look at how the improvement:
Judges look at:
Winner added.