- by Chris Crittenden, Strategic Account Director
- 17 September 2026
- Approx 3 min. read
Central government organisations are no strangers to change.
It is constant through managing major transformation programmes and responding to evolving policy priorities. Government deliver more with constrained resources than private sector organisations and must embrace new technology responsibly and with more caution, which means that change is often more drawn out, slower and takes longer to embed. And the next few years present a new challenge.
Alongside the rapid growth of AI, increasing pressure for better decision-making, and the ongoing need to demonstrate value from public investment, government departments are now preparing for one of the most important shifts in project delivery and portfolio management in recent years: the adoption of the Programme and Project Data Standard.
The 2030 compliance deadline may feel a long way off. But in reality, the work starts now.
A New Standard for Government Delivery
Developed by Government Project Delivery, the Programme and Project Data Standard has been designed to create greater consistency across government portfolios and programmes.
By establishing a common way of capturing and managing delivery data, government organisations will be able to:
- Improve consistency across programmes and portfolios
- Reduce duplication of effort and reporting
- Enable interoperability between systems and departments
- Improve the quality of decision-making
- Create better visibility of delivery performance
- Build stronger foundations for future analytical and AI capabilities
Ultimately, it is about ensuring that programme and project information can be trusted, understood and used consistently across government.
While full compliance is expected by 2030, the more immediate milestone is December 2026, when qualifying departments need to have a clear plan in place outlining how they will achieve compliance.
Many will find that they are already further along the journey than expected, but for others, it may highlight significant gaps between current ways of working and the future requirements of the standard. Either way, the time to assess those gaps and start planning is now.
Why Technology Matters
Achieving compliance is not simply about documenting new processes.
The systems used to manage programmes, portfolios and projects play a critical role in determining how easily organisations can adopt the standard.
This is where many government teams are currently asking difficult questions:
- Do our existing tools support the data structures required by the standard?
- How much manual work will be required to achieve compliance?
- Can our systems support consistent reporting across portfolios?
- Will we need additional technology investments before 2030?
- How can we prepare for future AI-enabled decision support?
These are valid questions, particularly when departments are already balancing multiple transformation priorities.
The organisations that move most successfully through this transition are likely to be those that see the standard not as a compliance exercise, but as an opportunity to improve portfolio visibility, governance and decision-making.
Built Specifically for Government
At Verto, we've been working exclusively with public sector organisations since 2008 and we understand that government delivery is different.
Managing large, often complex, change portfolios across multiple stakeholders, governance frameworks, funding models and reporting requirements requires more than a generic project management tool.
Today, we support a wide range of central and local government organisations, helping them manage programmes, projects and portfolios at scale. All of our data is hosted within the UK, providing the assurance and security public sector organisations expect.
Over the years, we've seen priorities evolve, but the challenge remains the same: helping leaders make better decisions using accurate, accessible and trusted information.
AI With Purpose, Not Hype
The current conversation around AI is impossible to ignore, but unfortunately, much of it focuses on novelty rather than practical outcomes.
Our approach has always been different.
We were among the first portfolio management platforms to introduce AI capabilities at the portfolio level, but only where they create tangible value.
We are not marketing any trending but unnecessary functionality here. If it didn’t make sense for our users, it would not be added to our platform – it's that simple. We apply AI that can help delivery teams identify risks earlier, improve reporting, uncover insights and reduce administrative burden.
The quality of those outcomes, however, depends entirely on the quality and consistency of the underlying data, which brings us back to the importance of the Programme and Project Data Standard.
As government increasingly explores AI-supported decision-making, common, structured and reliable data will become an essential foundation.
Making Compliance Easier
One of the challenges departments face today is understanding how to meet future requirements without creating unnecessary disruption.
That's why we've developed a version of Verto that aligns with the Programme and Project Data Standard.
Rather than treating compliance as an additional layer of effort, we've focused on making the transition as frictionless as possible, allowing organisations to embed good practice directly into the way they manage programmes and portfolios.
For teams beginning their compliance journey, this can remove significant uncertainty and help establish a clear path towards the 2030 deadline.
Let's Continue the Conversation
Over the coming months, I'll be speaking with central government organisations that are navigating this change and considering what it means for their own programme and portfolio environments.
If you're attending DigiGov, I'd welcome the opportunity to talk.
Whether you're still assessing the requirements, building your December 2026 compliance plan, evaluating your existing tooling, or simply looking to understand how others are approaching the challenge, we're always happy to share what we're seeing across the sector.
The Programme and Project Data Standard is more than a compliance deadline. It's an opportunity to create stronger foundations for government delivery, better decision-making and more effective use of AI in the years ahead.
The organisations that start preparing now will be the ones best positioned to realise those benefits.
