4.13 Authorities should consider whether they are likely to need the services of any of the advisors employed during the procurement post contract signature. The optimal way of ensuring that this is available on a cost-effective basis is for the potential (without commitment) for procuring additional services to be incorporated into the specification and tender of the potential advisers. Discounted rates for on-going support should be sought when Authorities are procuring consultants in open competition. It will be very difficult to forecast far in advance how much external support will be needed, but Appendix B provides an indication of the work which may be required post project signature. If the project is procuring post signature support, the contract for this should be reviewed on a regular basis, preferably at no more than four year intervals. Estimated costs for external advisers should be factored into the Authority's forecast contract management estimates. It is likely that the ongoing requirement will be for legal advice, unless for example a major change effects a change to the financial model and financial advice is also required.
4.14 It is not recommended that the Authority should appoint an external consultant for the contract manager role. An Authority staff member is likely to be more cost effective than employing external consultants and the individual is usually better placed by working within the organisation if a decision is required urgently. There are also potential advantages if the contract manager is appointed from existing Authority staff, providing the necessary skills can be demonstrated.
4.15 There may be roles, for example an Independent Certifier, where it is appropriate for a joint appointment to be made with the Contractor. Although the appointment of the Independent Certifier is often a joint appointment between the Procuring Authority, the Contractor and the Bank, it is the Contractor who pays the Independent Certifier and that cost forms part of the construction cost for the project. For such cases, the costs should be estimated and included in the OBC. The duty of care and management responsibility for such jointly appointed personnel should be carefully drafted to ensure the level of care is evenly distributed among the parties.
Checklist for Preparing for the Management of the Operational Phase • Review the requirements of the contract; • Decide upon the structure for the Authority's contract monitoring team; • Agree the guaranteed availability of internal resources including resources from other parts of the Authority; • Clarify roles and posts; • Estimate salary for each post; • Review the impact of the contract on users of the service? What monitoring role, if any, will they have and who will be paying for this time? Has this been factored into the budget calculations?; • Make provision for additional resource for limited periods over the life of the contract so that the Authority can respond to issues when they arise; • Make provision for the training needs and succession planning of the contract monitoring team during the transition period ; • Budget for carrying out "shadow" running of the contractual structure before the contract is operational to test its efficacy outside of a live environment; • Estimate cost of support from external advisers; • Look to training Authority staff to minimise the long term need for external advisers; • Include option for services post contract signature when appointing external advisers; • Review initial assumptions in the OBC for the FBC and provide fuller information on how the contract will be monitored post contract signature; • Start preparing a Project Directory that will be developed during the construction phase and will include good guidance for users on issues such as lets management, malicious damage, utilities, help desk, insurance, processing variations, etc; and • If in doubt over preparing for contract management, contact the Scottish Government Financial Partnerships Unit, the Scottish Government Health Department's Private Finance and Capital Unit or the PUK Operational Taskforce. |