Effective knowledge management incorporates the requirement for knowledge retention. This is particularly important in PFI/PPP contracts given that the term of such contracts typically exceed 25 years. Informal arrangements reliant on particular individuals' recall of event will be totally ineffective given the timescales involved and would make it very difficult for the Authority to act consistently as an intelligent customer over time.
Serious thought therefore needs to be applied by the Contract Manager to the challenge of retaining knowledge including underlying information and data and ensuring that it is maintained in a user friendly format that allows easy access and retrieval throughout the term of the Contract.
The Contract Management Manual should set out a comprehensive knowledge management strategy addressing issues such as:
• what data relating to the project is collected;
• how data is managed to ensure that it provides useful information;
• how information is stored to allow for easy retrieval;
• how information is maintained and updated;the method of delivery of reports, their format and their frequency;
• the document management system which should be put in place for the life of the Contract;
• who is to review and analyse the information;
• how the information can be use to make comparisons over time;
• methods of ensuring that the quality of reporting is maintained;
• how the relevance of the information will be assessed (irrelevant information is a waste of resource from both the Contractor's and the Authority's point of view); and
• how the reporting framework will have sufficient flexibility to cope with new information requirements.
The issue of knowledge retention is particularly important at key stages - for example when the procurement team disbands or when a member of the Contract Management Team leaves the team. Contractors have commented that they frequently experience major discontinuities in the Authority's approach to contract management when key personnel leave the Authority's team. This suggests there is over-reliance on such key individuals and their departure materially impairs the Authority's knowledge of the Contract and/or its contract management approach. Other changes in personnel which should prompt the Contract Manager to consider knowledge retention issues would include:
• changes in the Contractor's Team;
• changes in the Administration or organisation of the Authority;
• changes in senior officers following reorganisation or change;
• the arrival or departure of other key stakeholders; and
• changes in the staff assigned to the project by the advisers.
There are also phases in the project when there is a clear premium on investing time in knowledge management. The principal examples are:
• the six month period prior to financial close (See Section 7.1.5);
• the period between preferred bidder selection and the bidder's submission of the planning application;
• the six month period prior to Service Commencement as the facility undergoes commissioning tests; and
• the three year prior to expiry as the Authority decides its forward plans for the facility and services.
If a key issue arises at any time in relation to a process that will be repeated many times there will be a large payback from the investment of time in knowledge management. For example, retaining knowledge in relation to all the processes associated with the monthly cycle considered in Section 4 of this guidance is particularly important because the process is repeated every month.