Effective contract management will rely upon having a team of the right size and having the necessary skills to undertake this role effectively. It is essential that the Authority's resource managers make suitable provision for this. Given the annual Unitary Charge in most waste schemes exceeds £10m per year, an effective team that can minimise cost escalations and assure long term delivery of value for money from the Contract is a necessity, not a luxury.
Maintaining continuity between the procurement period and the post close period is often cited as the best way to achieve consistency of approach. However there are disadvantages, as well as advantages from retaining staff from the procurement period into the post close period. The ultimate goals are consistency of approach and retention of knowledge rather than retention of specific individuals regardless of effectiveness.