Contact: Jim Pendrey, tel 023 9262 4779 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report details the performance of the street lighting maintenance contract during the first year of the `Collaborative Working' arrangements.

2. Corporate Strategy

2.1 This report supports the following Aims of the Corporate Strategy:

(i) Aim 5 (Improving Services) by providing performance monitoring information for scrutiny; and

(ii) Aim 6 (Developing Councillors and Staff) by keeping Members up to date with progress on the Street Lighting Contract.

3. Performance

3.1 Contract performance is measured by five Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Performance in KPIs 1 and 2 have improved considerably. KPIs 3 and 4 have remained relatively constant but were already at an acceptable level. No information is available for KPI 5 due to the non-availability of the performance report from the Deadsure management system.

(i) KPI 1 - Reactive Maintenance - Low Cost Repairs

The requirement is for 99% of this category of defect to be resolved within three working days. The KPI has risen from 87.9% prior to the new arrangements to 99.5% during the first year.

The failure of some electronic equipment in certain lanterns, as identified in the report to the Committee on 8 September 2005, has now been resolved which has had a noticeable impact on the reliability of these lanterns.

(ii) KPI 2 - Ordered Works - High Cost Works Ordered by Hampshire County Council

The requirement is for 90% of this category of defect to be resolved within either 8 or 20 working days dependent upon the nature of the work. The KPI has risen from 78.62 % prior to the new arrangements to 86.74% during the first year. For this contract year it is currently running at 90.70%. The number of orders overtime is in single figures which is a huge improvement prior to the new arrangements when it was not unusual to find some 100 plus orders overtime. The benefits of more efficient working practices derived from the implementation of Construction Lean Improvement Processing (CLIP) have been significant, and work orders are now being turned around in approximately 5-8 days for 8 day orders and 8-15 days for 20 day orders.

(iii) KPI 3 - Planned Maintenance - Routine Cyclic Maintenance

The requirement is for 90% of all works to be completed by the programmed date and for 20% of these programmed maintenance rounds to be audited for quality. The KPI has remained almost constant with 98.81% of rounds being completed on time. Prior to the new arrangements 98.53% was achieved during the first year. The contractor, Southern Electric Contracting Limited, is currently three to four weeks ahead of schedule and the quality of works remains high.

(iv) KPI 4 - Night-time Scouting Efficiency - Checking Contractor's Night-time Scouts

The requirement is for the night-time defect location reporting (scouting) efficiency of the contractor to be not less than 85%. Again the KPI has remained almost constant with an efficiency measurement of 86.79% prior to the new arrangements to 86.89% from available data during the first year.

(v) KPI 5 - Repeat Visits - Monitoring First Time Repairs

The requirement is for the contractor to not exceed 5% returns to the same unit within 25 working days. The performance report is not available from Deadsure so unfortunately no measurement of this KPI can be made. However the monitoring of the number of reactive works orders in Deadsure would indicate that this is not a serious problem.

(vi) Percentage of Lights On

This was not included in the contract as a KPI but is a very important service indicator. The daily percentage of lights on is approximately 99.5% from a lighting stock of approximately 147,000 lighting units. Approximately 99.5% has been regularly achieved over the term of the contract.

(vii) Column Replacement Programme

The programme is currently on schedule and the quality of works is to the required standard.

4. Background

4.1 The `Collaborative Working' arrangements have now been in place for nearly 16 months. They are proving to be very successful with improved services, particularly in KPI 2 which was a major concern for both the County Council and the contractor. The contractor has now been able to optimise the efficiency of its resources through CLIP and by planning work in conjunction with the County Council's Contract Delivery Team staff.

4.2 The replacement street lighting maintenance management computer, Deadsure, which was brought on line in February 2005 to replace the SLIM system is gradually improving in stability. When the remaining software amendments have been made it should prove to be a major asset to the management of street lighting.

4.3 The current contract expires on 31 March 2007. The County Council is at the Expression of Interest stage for a PFI award. A decision is expected imminently. There are significant advantages to both the County Council and the contractor to agree an extension period, with a fluidity which will have a seamless transfer from this contract to either the PFI or the next conventional contract.

4.4 A year's extension would also enable the `Collaborative Working' arrangements to fully mature, and the advantages and disadvantages could then be fully analysed for inclusion in the next contract, be that either PFI or conventional.

4.5 Should the extension be neither offered nor accepted then a new contract would need to commence on 1 April 2007. A new contract document would need to be prepared by August 2006. In that timescale it is likely that there would be little variance from the existing contract.

5. Impact Assessments

5.1 Assessment of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act has been considered in this report but no adverse impact has been identified.

Recommendation

That the Committee notes the performance of the Street Lighting Contractor.

991/JP