There can be no single formula for calculating the size of the internal team. Surveys of operational projects carried out by Partnerships UK in 2004 and 2005 identified significant variations in the amount of resource allocated to contract management and monitoring. This ranged from a proportion of the time of a single person to a large, dedicated team.
In determining the right level of resource the key issue is for the Authority to determine where in the organisation the contract management function will be placed. Some Authorities may wish to keep this within the waste department especially if this department provided the project sponsor during the procurement. In such cases, the Contact Manager will be able to benefit from the widespread knowledge of the project in that department. There may also be opportunities for the long term residual waste contract to be managed alongside other waste contracts such as composting and MRF contracts or HWRC management contracts as there may be operational relationships.
An alternative approach is to locate the function within a central contract management department where there may a deeper pool of experience and awareness of good practice in relation to longer term complex contracts. Such a structure may also provide more attractive better career opportunities for the Contract Management Team and hence assist staff retention as well as being a more efficient use of resource.
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Example Cambridgeshire County Council is intending to manage its waste PFI contract jointly with its Street lighting PFI and Highway Maintenance contract. |
In joint waste projects there is also a need to consider whether the contract management function should be located within one of the Authorities or set up as an independent standalone unit.