Ontario deserves infrastructure projects that are delivered on time and within budget. Yet research on major infrastructure projects has found that roughly nine out of ten experience cost overruns, while delays remain widespread across the sector.

Delays and cost overruns carry a significant public cost. Taxpayers pay more. Communities wait longer. Public confidence erodes.

One of the most important safeguards against these outcomes is Project Controls.

Project Controls professionals help monitor and report schedule and cost performance, forecast risks, track changes, and provide decision-makers with early warnings before risks become actual issues. Effective Project Controls improve visibility, accountability, and decision-making throughout project delivery.

However, Project Controls are often treated as a compliance requirement rather than a strategic project-delivery function. In most projects, Project Controls budgets are included within construction bid amounts, creating pressure to minimize investment in the very systems, processes, technologies, and reporting capabilities that help projects finish on time and within budget.

This petition calls on the Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, and the Government of Ontario to formally recognize Project Controls as a critical Project Delivery function and to support a more effective approach to funding and implementing Project Controls on construction projects.

Specifically, we request that:

• Funding for Project Controls be established separately from construction bid amounts within the overall Project Budget
• Project Controls be treated as a distinct project-delivery function with dedicated funding, enabling appropriate investment in people, processes, technologies, reporting, forecasting, and project-performance management

A Construction Budget is only one component of a broader Project Budget. The overall Project Budget may also include planning, design, permitting, land acquisition, project management, provisional items, contingencies, commissioning, and other project-delivery costs.

Under this proposed approach, once a winning construction bidder has been selected, the contractor would submit one or more Project Controls Execution Plans (PCEP) for owner review and approval. These plans could vary in:

• Staffing levels and team structure
• Software platforms and digital tools
• Reporting capabilities and analytics
• Forecasting and performance-management approaches
• Automation and workflow systems
• Risk and change-management processes
• Overall sophistication of the Project Controls function

The owner would then approve the Project Controls Execution Plan that best aligns with the project's size, complexity, risk profile, reporting requirements, and delivery objectives.

The selected Project Controls Execution Plan would continue to be implemented by the contractor's project controls team. However, the owner would gain greater visibility into, and influence over, how project performance will be measured, monitored, forecasted, and reported throughout project delivery.

This approach would encourage contractors to think more strategically about Project Controls rather than treating them solely as a contractual compliance requirement. It would also create opportunities for innovation in project controls methodologies, reporting systems, software tools, analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, and project-delivery practices.

A Win-Win for Owners and Contractors
This approach benefits both project owners and construction contractors.

• Project owners gain greater visibility into project performance, stronger forecasting capabilities, improved reporting, and a greater ability to align Project Controls with project objectives before construction begins. By approving the Project Controls Execution Plan, owners can select the level of sophistication, technology, reporting, and project-performance management that best supports the project's size, complexity, risk profile, and delivery objectives.
• Construction contractors benefit by reducing the pressure to minimize Project Controls investment within competitive bid environments. Instead, contractors can focus on proposing Project Controls approaches that best support successful project delivery, innovation, transparency, and performance. This creates opportunities to adopt better technologies, stronger reporting systems, improved forecasting tools, automation, analytics, and more effective project-management practices.
• When owners and contractors are aligned around a well-defined Project Controls Execution Plan, projects are better positioned to identify issues early, make informed decisions, manage risks proactively, and achieve successful outcomes.
• A relatively modest investment in Project Controls can generate value many times greater than its cost by helping owners and contractors identify problems earlier, improve decision-making, reduce delays, avoid cost overruns, and deliver better project outcomes.

Ontario is investing billions in infrastructure. By strengthening Project Controls, we can improve transparency, accountability, and project outcomes while helping deliver better value for taxpayers. Please sign this petition to support stronger Project Controls, better project delivery, and more infrastructure projects completed on time and within budget.