Method

Work carried out

Document review

We reviewed the key documents relating to the procurement including the Invitation to Tender, bid summaries, the evaluations, and correspondence between the Agency and the Department.

Semi-structured interviews

Highways Agency procurement and operational teams, and its advisers:

Department for Transport

Connect Plus

Bidders

Quantitative and financial analysis

We carried out financial analysis to support a number of areas of the report, including analysis of the Agency's value for money comparisons, the bids, the Agency's spend on advisers, and Connect Plus's early operational performance.

Benchmarking

We have benchmarked various areas of the Agency's performance, including:

spending on advisers

procurement timetable

financing margins on the M25 contract to other deals