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The Project Control Framework
On 1st April 2008 we launched the Project Control Framework. The Framework sets out how we, together with the Department for Transport, manage and deliver major improvement projects.
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Capability Assessment Toolkit 3
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Efficiency Gains from Collaborative Roads Procurement
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The National Vehicle Recovery Project
April 2007
Introduction
At the Highways Agency we are committed to keeping traffic moving and ensuring the safety of our road-users on England’s motorway and trunk road network against a growing demand for road travel. Our Traffic Officer service is one area within our Network Operator role helping us to achieve our commitment by delivering improved journey times and customer safety. We are intending to enhance our operating capability by securing a vehicle recovery service to support our Traffic Officers when dealing with incidents. This is an important step towards making a difference by clearing the motorways of stationary vehicles and loads quickly to keep traffic moving.
Background
Currently, vehicles that are abandoned, broken-down or damaged on our roads are removed either by the owner making their own appropriate private arrangements, or where the police need to intervene using their powers and supporting vehicle recovery contracts.
In 2002 the Highways Agency and Association of Chief Police Officers undertook a joint review of their roles and responsibilities on England’s motorways and trunk roads. This led to the introduction of the Agency’s 24/7 Traffic Officer service and provided the foundation for certain traffic & incident management functions to transfer from the police to the Agency. The Traffic Officer Service is now fully in place and patrols every motorway in England.
The transfer dealing with vehicles that are abandoned, broken down or damaged was always envisaged to take place at a later date and the National Vehicle Recovery Project has now been set up to do this.
About the National Vehicle Recovery Project
The Agency has established a dedicated project team to deliver the new service which covers two core areas:
- Establishing appropriate statutory powers to allow us to remove vehicles and their loads from the network.
- Development and delivery of a contractual means of recovering vehicles and their loads from our national road network.
In developing the shape of our future vehicle recovery capability we have been talking and listening to the extensive experience of our police partners and those whose daily lives are involved with the vehicle recovery industry, together with our own staff and service providers. The focus of these efforts has been on meeting our customers’ needs and requirements, both in terms of improved safety and journey time reliability.
We are continuing to refine the shape of our future vehicle recovery service and anticipate this will be introduced in 2008, and provided by the Agency through an open and fair competition to deliver a National Vehicle Recovery Manager. Procurement of this is expected to commence shortly.
As the projects progresses we will continue to provide updates at key stages.
Contact
If you have any information or suggestions that you feel would be helpful, please email us on: NVRP@highways.gsi.gov.uk or visit our webpage at www.highways.gov.uk/vehiclerecovery.
