With the development of the Project Delivery Guide, the department of Capital Project Delivery has established standards for project governance that allow for consistent, repeatable, predictable decision‐making processes. Projects will be organized into three categories and governed accordingly:

  • Projects with approved budgets greater than $15 Million
  • Projects with approved budgets between $3 Million and $15 Million
  • Projects with approved budgets less than $3 Million
  • For a complete summary of project governance, see University Policy No. 1301

Each category of project will be subject to a different Project Governance structure. All projects with a value greater than $3 Million (Large Projects) will be governed at the project level by a Steering Committee, chaired by an Executive Sponsor, while projects with a value less than $3 Million (Small Projects) will not require a Steering Committee or a project‐level Executive Sponsor.

The following notable differences occur on projects at different governance thresholds:

  • All projects greater than $3 Million are governed at the highest level by the Board of Trustees
  • Projects greater than $15 Million receive oversight from two Trustee committees – the Financial Planning Committee (FPC) and the Institutional Capacity Committee (ICC)
  • Projects less than $3 Million are governed at their highest level by the Provost, with FPC providing Fiscal Year project approvals
  • All Projects greater than $3 Million include a Steering Committee and Executive Sponsor
  • Projects less than $3 Million do not require a Steering Committee, and are executively sponsored by the Provost

For all projects featuring a Steering Committee, the Steering Committee will be executively sponsored by a representative of the Provost or President’s office. All Steering Committees will include representatives from Facilities Services, the President’s Office, the Provost’s office, and the chair of the User Group, in addition to members designated by the Executive Sponsor. Similarities between projects above and below the $3 Million threshold are:

  • All projects fall under the purview of the Capital Projects Committee. The Capital Projects Committee reviews and provides feedback on projects prior to approval presentations to the Board of Trustees.
  • All projects include a User Group, which partners with the Capital Project Delivery project manager to provide project leadership. On smaller projects, the User Group may include only one individual, who is by default the chair representing the group.
  • On all projects, the external consultants, design teams, and contractors are supervised by the CPD project manager, who is responsible to work with University stakeholders to understand and communicate decisions and direction to external consultants, architects, and contractors, and to filter input from University Technical Groups to ensure that criteria provided to external vendors can be accommodated within project budgets.
  • Should a project move from one category to another, refer to University Policy No. 1301 for correct governance.
  • All overseas projects should consider local project management in addition to UChicago management. Refer to the University's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Policy.

The differences in Project Governance structure between the three project categories are illustrated graphically on the following pages.

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