Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

2.4 Collaboration

- clients working together to achieve more effective delivery of services to customers and better value

The Agency has been working in collaborative partnerships with its key suppliers for several years. The next step is to explore how we might work with other public bodies and their suppliers to improve efficiency in procurement and delivery of services to customers. We will:

• Develop the findings of our consultation exercise with local authorities and representative bodies such as the County Surveyors' Society and Local Government Centres of Excellence
• Consult with, offer advice to, and learn best practice from local authorities
• Seek opportunities to combine requirements and deliver them through flexible contractual arrangements. Highway maintenance will be the priority area most likely to deliver significant efficiency gains
• Work with other Government Departments and a range of interested organisations to develop efficiency measures for demonstrating the success of collaboration
• Assess the practicality and value of introducing project accounts and projectbased insurance.

Teamwork

Working together requires openness, trust and a right-first-time attitude. When mistakes occur, the Agency expects its staff and suppliers to identify them and work together to put them right. Used to its maximum potential, collaborative team-working will increase efficiency for clients and suppliers, and deliver better services to customers.

However, it does carry a specific risk of a lack of clarity for liability and decisionmaking. It is therefore essential that contractual roles and responsibilities are clear and understood at the outset. We will ensure clarity by:

• Continuing to support at a senior level and give leadership to integrated teams
• Providing training and development in the operation of our model contracts
• Holding tender clinics as part of the procurement process to ensure our requirements and roles and responsibilities for delivery are clear
• Maintaining project risk registers and holding risk workshops as part of the procurement process for all major investments
• Monitoring project-partnering arrangements using the Agency's Cultural Assessment Framework or similar tools to ensure cultural aspects such as leadership and team working are successfully embedded
• Undertaking and learning from post-project evaluations.