Archived decisions

Contact: Phil Samms, ext 7072 email:[email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The County Council has a statutory duty to maintain and improve the public highway and, as such, the professional transport planning, design and implementation of engineering solutions is critical. Whilst the Council has operated a significant in-house engineering resource to deliver this ongoing service for many years, additional transportation funding over the past six years has required the use of external private sector resources to assist with the increased workload.

1.2 Following an initial five year contract with Atkins, running between 2001 and 2006, a replacement contract was approved by the former Executive Member for Environment: South Hampshire and Resource Management on 13 September 2005, and awarded to Mott Gifford for an initial two-year period commencing on 1 April 2006, with an option to extend for a further two years. This report sets out the success of the contract to date, identifies the ongoing future need, and seeks approval to award two further one year extensions, subject to continued good performance.

1.3 The Professional Services Contract is operated in partnership with the Environment Department's in-house Engineering Consultancy, providing an integrated, high quality, reliable transport planning and design resource for the Council, to ensure that all possible opportunities are taken to enhance the environment and safety of Hampshire's communities.

2. Recommendation

2.1 That the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel advises the Executive Member for Environment to approve the proposal to extend the existing contract for transport planning and highway design related professional services by one year and, subject to continued good performance, the further extension of a single year, taking it to a revised contract end date of 31 March 2010.

3. Background

3.1 The current Professional Services Contract (PSC), awarded to Mott Gifford (a joint venture between Mott MacDonald and Gifford), commenced on 1 April 2006 for an initial two-year period, with the potential to extend in single years up to a maximum of an additional two. This arrangement replaced the previous five-year contract that had operated between 2001 and 2006 with Atkins.

3.2 At the time the new contract was prepared, initial investigations were ongoing in relation to the development of a new contract strategy for the entire highway service (design, construction and maintenance). It was then agreed that the Professional Services Contract would be established as a shorter term arrangement, to enable an alignment with the works contracts expected to be awarded in 2008, and therefore the potential to integrate the services and works at this time, if required.

3.3 Subsequent development of the new highways contract strategy considered this potential integration of transport planning, design and works services, but decided that this was not the optimum solution for the Council at this time. The differing nature of the works and service contracts was felt to be a barrier to obtaining best practice and value, as there was the potential for the significantly larger works element of the contract to detract from the financially much smaller transport planning and design service delivery. In addition, there are very few companies in the industry able to offer the mixture of works and services required, and therefore any single contract arrangement was likely to result in a joint venture bid between contractors and consultants. If this were the case, it is preferred that any consultant be directly employed under a specific service contract, rather than effectively procured through a more general works/service arrangement, to ensure that they are wholly focused on delivering planning and design resource.

3.4 Since the start of the current Professional Services Contract it is evident that the new arrangements have been operating very well over the first year of the contract. The following sections overview this performance and set out the benefits that an extension to these arrangements will bring.

4. Review of Service Delivery

4.1 In the first year of the Professional Services Contract the integrated delivery team made up by Mott Gifford and the in-house Engineering Consultancy completed fee related work to the value of £7.7 million. Of this work, Mott Gifford was responsible for £2.1 million (27%) - a breakdown of work types is shown in Appendix 1.

4.2 Mott Gifford has been able to provide a wide range of services during 2006/07. This ability to provide services outside of the Council's own resources is an important factor in the appointment of private sector partners. Particular services to note include support in the completion of coarse and detailed visual inspections of the highway, arboricultural inspections and ecological advice. In addition, Mott Gifford's ability to support transportation planning services has been essential over the past year. This has supported the major change in development of schemes through the Gateway Review process, and the establishment of the Contributions Action Team, on which Mott Gifford has an active role.

4.3 The A3 Bus Priority scheme has included a 360 degree performance measurement system from the start. The subjective performance of all parties to the contract (Design Team, Hampshire County Council site staff and Contractor) is recorded by each of the other two parties. The current PSC began part way through this scheme and an examination of the performance data shows a clear step improvement in Design Team quality performance when Mott Gifford took on the PSC role. A graph of Design Team performance is included as Appendix 2.

4.4 As well as the A3 Bus Priority scheme performance system, Mott Gifford was included equally in a performance management pilot with Engineering Consultancy and the Client Manager base for six months in the third and fourth quarters of 2006/07. The results of the pilot have shown that the perception from Client Managers is that Mott Gifford is offering a quality of service which matches Engineering Consultancy. The performance management pilot is to be converted to a full-time system during 2008, in line with commencement of the new Term Highways Contract and Improvement Works Frameworks Contracts.

5. Integration

5.1 Throughout the past year Mott Gifford and Engineering Consultancy have been actively seeking to integrate their services for the benefit of the Department and Council as a whole. In particular, Mott Gifford regularly attends a number of meetings within the Council, both to better understand its needs, but also to provide an alternative view from the private sector and their wider knowledge base. These meetings include the Contributions Action Team, the Programme Management Group, Departmental Standards Committee and Programme Action Team.

5.2 In addition, regular management teams have been held for the contract at various levels, to ensure that the Council is obtaining the desired level of service, and that opportunities are being taken to use the respective strengths of the partnership to deliver a high quality and cost effective service.

5.3 Integration has also been achieved on a number of high profile schemes. In particular, the A3 Bus Priority scheme has been progressing much more effectively since Mott Gifford took over from the previous supplier, as shown by the result of the performance data available in Appendix 2. Other schemes to benefit from the new arrangements include Chickenhall Lane Link Road, Winchester Park and Ride and Merton Rise - Contract 3.

5.4 The benefits of co-location have been realised through the contract, with Mott Gifford proactively encouraging County Council staff to work from its Stoneham Offices whenever it is advantageous to do so. This has been extended not only to engineers, but also to Client Managers. Likewise, the enhanced skill set available through the partnership as a whole has led to the possibility of secondments of Mott Gifford staff to The Castle, to further project team integration.

5.5 Processes have also been jointly developed through the partnership to streamline the development and delivery of schemes. In particular, Mott Gifford has been closely working with the Engineering Consultancy and Transport Policy sections to develop an enhanced forward works programme. This is an area where the involvement of specialists from the private sector can show significant benefits. Ongoing work on the Forward Works Programme will be critical to the realisation of efficiency improvements through the new Term Highways Contract and Improvement Works Frameworks.

5.6 In addition to the more defined measures of success above, a partnering event for a cross-section of staff was held on 27 April 2007 to critically review the ongoing service from Mott Gifford and the Engineering Consultancy. This successful event enabled officers to communicate openly about their perceptions of the arrangement so far, and also to undertake a number of workshops looking to the future. Feedback from the event has been very positive, however the partnership is not complacent and will be seeking to learn from some of the issues highlighted to further improve service delivery.

6. Future Workload

6.1 Current indications for the 2008/09 Integrated Transport Capital Works Programme are that the level of planned works may dip, however plans are in place through the Contributions Action Team for the completion of a significant number of feasibility studies in the coming year, which will in turn lead to the identification of externally funded schemes for delivery from 2008/09 onwards. Mott Gifford has a major role in delivering these studies, and its knowledge of the background to schemes will be important to the successful delivery of the programme when it is finalised and approved in early 2008.

6.2 Beyond 2008/09 future funding levels become less certain as the Government considers changes to the funding streams for transport. In order to plan beyond this current commission it is necessary to start consideration for the future of Transport Planning and Highway Design. This work will need to commence by the end of this calendar year. An extension of the Mott Gifford contract in two one year steps, subject to continued good performance, would allow time to develop a new procurement strategy for this area of service.

7. Conclusion

7.1 Overall the Professional Services Contract supplier, Mott Gifford, has provided an effective service over the initial year of the contract, integrating well with Environment Department staff and processes. In addition, Mott Gifford has been able to supply a wide range of specialist services to the Department, that would otherwise have had to be procured through stand alone specialist contracts. In particular, the ability to supplement the Transport Policy and Planning functions of the Department has been essential to progress scheme development for future years.

7.2 It is also clear from the performance management trial and partnering events that relations between Mott Gifford and the Department are good at all levels, and that there is a true commitment to make the arrangement work for the benefit of the highway and transport service.

7.3 Indications for workload in 2008/09 are that there would be real benefit from extending the existing contract into the first of its two possible years' extensions and also agreeing a further extension of one year, subject to continued good performance, to assist in supporting the anticipated workload identified through the Integrated Transport Capital Programme and Contributions Action Team, and to allow time to prepare for a future procurement strategy.

1325Rpt/PS

APPENDIX 1

BREAKDOWN OF WORK TYPES DELIVERED BY PSC PARTNER

TO DATE

APPENDIX 2

TREND OF DESIGN TEAM QUALITY PERFORMANCE ON A3 BUS PRIORITY SCHEME OVER TIME

NOTE NEW PSC COMMENCED MAY 2006