If the Contract provides for the facility to transfer to the Authority at the expiry of the Contract there will usually also be provisions for the facility to be surveyed by the Authority towards the end of the Contract to establish its condition. It is very much in the Authority's interests to exercise its right to survey the facility and this should be programmed into the Contract Expiry Plan from the outset.
The WIDP Contract (Clause 79) entitles the Authority to commission a survey of the facility eighteen months before the Expiry Date at its own cost. Authorities may wish to commission a survey before this time. The Authority has to give at least 5 Business Days' notice and use reasonable endeavours to minimise disruption. The Contractor should, at its own cost, give reasonable assistance to the person carrying out the survey. If the survey shows the facility to have been under maintained the Authority can notify the Contractor of the maintenance required and the time period for carrying out such works. The Authority can also, in this circumstance, recover the cost of the initial survey from the Retention Fund Account or the Unitary Charge.
Further, under Clause 79, the Contractor has to carry out the maintenance at its own expense. If the work has not been completed twelve months before the Expiry Date, the Authority can deduct the costs (as quantified in the survey) from the Unitary Charge and place the money in the Retention Fund Account. If the Contractor then carries out the maintenance to the standard and in the time period previously specified, the Authority should reimburse the Contractor for its associated costs by making a withdrawal from the Retention Fund Account. The Contractor bears any shortfall between the Contractor's costs in carrying out the maintenance and the money available in the Retention Fund Account.
If the Contractor does not carry out the works, the Authority can arrange for these to be done (either using its own resources or by appointing another person). The Contractor is responsible for the cost of this work. The Authority can recover such costs by drawing on the money in the Retention Fund Account, or, if insufficient, by making deductions from the Unitary Charge or through debt recovery.