The Transition Period covers a number of different stages, each likely to have different resource requirements. The stages should be reviewed in advance and plans made for adjusting the resources in the Contract Management Team to match the demands of the project. This needs to be done on a project specific basis. However the comments below should be applicable to the majority of projects and are intended to provide a starting point for the Authority's planning exercise.
During the planning period of the project17 the contractual obligations on the Authority may be relatively light. However there will be a need to provide some support to the Contractor in securing a Satisfactory Planning Permission. This will need input from relatively senior people involved with the project. As this is the stage where any local objections to the choice of site are likely to attract the most publicity there is also likely to be a lot of work required to communicate the facts about the project to a range of stakeholders. This can be very time consuming and the Contract Manager should ensure that enough resource is mobilised early enough for the Authority to be taking a proactive rather than a reactive approach. If the planning application is refused locally then the planning period will be extended and there will be a need to maintain the resources required for longer than anticipated.18
During the construction period, although the major obligations rest with the Contractor there are a number of important tasks for the Authority (through its Contract Management Team) to perform (see Section 2.3). These require different skills to those used in the planning period. Section 3 addresses these issues and goes into more detail in relation to assembling the team for the Transition Period and maintaining appropriate resources for the operations period.
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17 This stage can commence prior to financial close, if the Preferred Bidder starts its pre-application consultation activities. This will potentially generate publicity for the project and may trigger the mobilisation of groups opposing the project.
18 WIDP is working on further guidance on the planning process – Authorities should contact WIDP for the current position of this guidance