In capital projects, failure is the norm. Research from the University of Oxford shows that 9 out of 10 projects fail to meet cost and schedule objectives – and most also fail to achieve their intended purpose.

In energy, process, transport, water treatment, and industrial plant systems, the stakes are high. Billions are invested in new facilities, upgrades, and expansions. Yet too often:

• Projects run over budget and behind schedule.

• Plants are handed over incomplete or underperforming.

• Energy systems fail to deliver the promised capacity and reliability.

The result? Deliverables are produced, but the outcomes that justified the project are missed.

Project Management Offices (PMOs) provide structure and control. The PMBOK® Guide has long supported them with processes, principles, and performance domains. But while these frameworks measure cost, schedule, and scope, they fail to deliver outcomes.

That’s why projects continue to miss the mark. PMOs can deliver outputs, but outputs are not the same as outcomes. Without outcomes, benefits drift, value is lost, and projects fail to achieve their true purpose. There must be something more required than the current PMO frameworks can provide…

The PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition advanced the profession by shifting from a process-based model to principles and performance domains, emphasizing value delivery and outcomes. But it left one critical gap: how to govern outcomes with the same rigor as deliverables.

The Outcome Assurance Framework fills that gap. Developed by the Institute of Commissioning and Assurance (ICxA), it is the missing chapter of the PMBOK® Guide – a governance model built for complex projects in energy, process, transport, and industrial sectors.

Built on five inter-dependent pillars – Vision & Strategy, Information Outcomes, Installation Outcomes, Integration Outcomes, and Operation Outcomes – the framework ensures that:

• Outcomes are clearly defined and tied to strategic intent.

• Deliverables are validated through outcome checkpoints, not just QA/QC gates.

• Systems are proven to work together under real conditions.

• Operations are prepared to sustain outcomes and create value.

The PMBOK® Guide recognizes that projects exist within a value delivery system. The Outcome Assurance Framework makes that system reliable by ensuring that outcomes are:

• Defined early

• Validated progressively

• Governed continuously

This is how projects move beyond compliance and reporting to actually deliver outcomes that create value.