Highways Agency

Partnerships to Better Business

What are Partnerships to Better Business?

For the UK construction industry to be consistently world class in delivering products and services that maximise value for clients and end users, and exceed expectations (The Rethinking Construction vision), there is a requirement for client leadership, integrated teams and the addressing of people issues such as health and safety, job satisfaction and personal development. This can only be achieved through the development of partnerships that improve decision making, reduce business risk, help business become more competitive and lead to continual improvement.

Why is this an issue for the Highways Agency?

To deliver improvements to our services and the network the Agency needs to work closely with a wide range of partners and other stakeholders. Through close co-operation with partners the Agency hopes to reduce capital costs and construction times, provide better predictability, have fewer defects and accidents and increase productivity, turnover and profit for all.

What is the Highways Agency's goal?

The Agency continues to deliver the overwhelming proportion of its services through third parties. Contracting-out places a greater emphasis on the Agency developing its intelligent client role, to focus on service outcomes and to set the right technical and performance standards in contracts. This means being at the forefront of best procurement practice, developing better and more effective ways of working in partnership with suppliers.

How is the Highways Agency achieving its goal?

The Procurement Strategy, 'Delivering Best Value Solutions and Services', sets out how the Agency will improve quality, reduce whole life cost and speed up delivery of its major schemes. This will be achieved through the development of longer-term partnerships, an integrated and incentivised supply chain with suppliers being involved early in projects, with better risk sharing between partners and performance measurement with continual improvement targets. This approach is a key element for new highway maintenance and improvement contracts.

The Agency is working closely with industry to improve safety on our network, develop standards, share information, encourage improved products, materials and whole life performance. The Agency has a research programme to develop techniques and keep the Agency at the forefront of the new development of technology.

In addition to the need to comply with legislation and government policy, there are a number of basic principles and tools, which are relevant to partnerships to better business. These are:

• Better Business Practice
• Construction Skills Certification Scheme
• Environmental Management Systems
• Health and Safety
• People Policies
• Whole Life Costing

Monitoring Progress

Rethinking Construction has set seven annual targets relating to procurement. The Agency works towards these through the Procurement Strategy 'Delivering Best Value Solutions and Services'. These targets will be measured through the Clients Charter:

• Reduce capital costs by 10%
• Reduce construction time by 10%
• Reduce defects by 20%
• Reduce accidents by 20%
• Improve cost and time predictability by 10%
• Increase productivity by 10%
• Increase profitability by 10%

The Agency is adopting the Construction Best Practice Programme Indicators as part of its supplier selection and supplier performance measurement processes relating to this theme. These are:

• Client Satisfaction with the Product
• Client Satisfaction with the Service
• Predictability of Programme
• Safety
• Defects

The KPI's relating to partnerships to better business are set out in the Agency's 2003-4 Business Plan as:

Progress against this KPI will be reported in the Highways Agency Annual Report.

In Strategic Roads 2010 the Highways Agency 10 Year National Road Strategy, we have set 3 targets:

• By 2004, have in place procurement guidance to require contractors to be in possession of an accredited Environmental Management System (EMS), or meet the requirements of a Highways Agency EMS
• By 2010, develop and operate partnership and other financial initiatives with the private sector to deliver 25% of the funding required for current and new major schemes
• Road condition maintained to a high standard, so that the proportion requiring maintenance in any future year is held at an optimum level (between 7% and 8%)

The Clients' Charter also has relevant targets (see Respect for People - Monitoring Progress)

Future Development

• Suppliers will have the option of developing 'one-stop shop' service delivery with all necessary resources in-house, or establishing consortia or joint ventures with appropriate supply chain arrangements. The Agency is looking to package schemes together, which is likely to encourage partnerships being developed
• The Agency is now looking to develop a new form of contract. The Private Finance Managing Agent Contractor (PFMAC) contract will be structured around the delivery of ongoing maintenance and operation services on the network, rather than a specific construction scheme. The new contract aims to incorporate whole life cost and partnership in a flexible, single supplier approach
• The Agency is developing performance specifications and carried out a consultation process to progress this. See: Developing Performance Specification