Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

Managing Conflicts of Interest in Consultancy Advice

Policy on restrictions, placed upon suppliers used in providing consultancy advice on a contract which they are planning to tender for, or where they may be tendering for similar types of contracts in the near future.
 
When a supplier is providing consultancy advice to a Agency contract the following restrictions will apply -

1. Other than in providing information in its role as an incumbent on a maintenance contract, a supplier engaged in collecting data for a proposed contract is excluded from tendering for that contract.
2. A supplier that is used in assisting with the compilation of contract documents, or in any part of the tender assessment process, is excluded from tendering for that contract.
3. A supplier whose task requires them to have access to material which would significantly assist them in tendering for other Agency contracts, but which cannot be made available to other tenderers for those other Agency contracts, is excluded from tendering for any contract where that information would give them an unfair advantage.
4. A supplier that is not tendering for that contract but is assisting in any way with the tender assessment process, will operate under the control of the procurement officer and is not permitted access to sensitive information from any tender submission.
5. Secondees from a tendering supplier, either direct employees or associates, engaged on short term assignments are excluded from work which requires judgement to be exercised in cases where that judgement could potentially be of advantage to their employer.