Highways Agency

What we want from you and what will happen next

We welcome your views about the way we plan to procure this work and the vision to create, maintain and develop the Community as well as your comments upon the following questions :

1. Frameworks
   1. Would remuneration by actual cost and/or target cost in accordance with a stated share formula, where work and target cost is reviewed against specific milestones incentivise the supply chain to provide best value ?
   2. If so is this approach appropriate to a) R&D and b) Technical Consultancy work ? If not please suggest alternative arrangements.
   3. Paragraph 15 concerned KPI's. How should these be measured in the R&D / Technical Consultancy context ?
   4. Paragraph 15 omitted the "Safety" indicator which is included in the suite of KPI's used to measure the performance of our Major Projects contractors. Do you think that this indicator is relevant to R&D / Technical Consultancy work. If you think it is how could it be measured ?
   5. How can concerns about confidentiality and Intellectual Property Rights be reconciled with the objective of sharing best practice ?
2. The Community
   1. Do you see benefits in the Community concept ?
   2. Do you consider that the foundations mentioned in paragraph 10 are appropriate for the Community and, if so, what values would members need to demonstrate to maintain the foundations and develop the Community ?
   3. Should there be an infrastructure by which the Community is managed, and, if so, how would this function be managed and funded?
   4. By what criteria should prospective members be allowed to join the Community ?
   5. What barriers, if any, do you see to the creation of the Community?
   6. Would you like to join the Community and what do you think you can bring to it ?
3. Frameworks / The Community
   Would you be prepared to join the Agency in applying The Government Procurement Code of Good Practice ? This is a non contractual code of conduct for all members of the supply chain that encourages all participants to work together openly and co-operatively by committing themselves to the core values of fairness, honesty and openness, efficiency and effectiveness and professionalism.
   
   More information about the Code can be found at http://www.ogc.gov.uk/

Please reply by : 30th January 2004

What will happen next

We will analyse the results of the consultation and announce the findings. Concurrently we will prepare the rolling programme, details of which will be placed on the Agency's web-site and take forward pilot procurements of the replacement frameworks mentioned in paragraph 11.