The objective of the commission was to develop a new contract that encompasses the current industry best practice, be good value for money and provide the tools to support West Berkshire in their management of the successful Contractor.
Services provided
The commission involved a number of activities as follows:
Information Gathering
A series of consultative meetings were held, both internally and externally to identify the requirements for, and scope of, the new Highway Maintenance contract, including:
- Meetings to review the performance of the current contract and identify any desired improvements
- Meetings to review the scope and volume of works required to be included in the new contract
Development of the contract model
A thorough review of the available forms of contract were researched and reviewed to determine the most appropriate type of contract for West Berkshire. This resulted in the recommendation of the New Engineering Contract revision 3 (NEC3) - Term Services Contract as the preferred form. The NEC3 is the only form of contract to be currently endorsed by the Office of Government Commerce and the Term Services Contract has been accepted as the most appropriate variant of this for the West Berkshire Contract.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
Research was been carried out on KPI’s currently used in other highway maintenance contracts to identify ones that are both meaningful and measurable. These were then developed specifically for West Berkshire to ensure that they drove performance improvements.
Contract duration and performance incentivisation
Research was carried out on the mechanisms for linking contractor performance to contract duration to enable the contract to be extended from 5 to 10 years, through sustained good performance by the contractor. Other mechanisms and penalties were also included to safeguard the Council against poor performance. The outcome is a set of 9 contract specific KPI’s that are used to award contract extensions on the basis of sustained good performance.
Contract document
The documentation for the contract is being prepared by WSP. Development of the contract conditions, specification and method of measurement has been carried out to suit the particular needs of West Berkshire.
Procurement process
WSP worked with West Berkshire Council to prepare documents and the strategy behind the procurement process. This has included a review of quality versus price in the assessment of the tenders through to drafting specific questions for the tender documents, and ensuring the procurement process and timetable was achieved.
Project information
Client: West Berkshire Council
Status: completed April 2007