The contract between the two purchasers and Pathway included 289 agreements to agree later the detail of aspects of the service.
Agreement required from | Statement of the agreement required after contract signature |
Department of Social Security | The contractor shall distribute cards by secure methods agreed in advance of their distribution by DSS and the Contractor. |
Department of Social Security | The contractor shall ensure that any chosen security verification details or procedures are updated when agreed between the parties without adversely affecting the authorised person's ability to collect authorised payments and without having an adverse impact on the overall time of transaction. |
Department of Social Security | The number of DSS staff with access shall be limited and agreed between DSS and the Contractor. |
Department of Social Security | It is for DSS's operator of CAPS services and the contractor to agree, subject to DSS approval, the technical nature of the connection. |
Department of Social Security | Pathway confirms that the card authentication method will be positive rather than negative, resistant to forgery or other unauthorised manipulation and will include an agreed mechanism for identifying the attempted use of counterfeit or invalid cards |
Department of Social Security | Pathway will agree a Service Level Agreement with DSS prior to service commencement. |
Joint | Contingency plans to be based on impact and risk assessments and agreed between the contractor and the authorities. |
Joint | The contractor shall agree with the authorities the overall business processes at the counter, before roll-out. |
Joint | On presentation of a terminated card, the system shall prompt the counter clerk to take action in line with procedures agreed between the contractor and the authorities. |
Joint | The contractor shall reconcile card management actions against instructions received from DSS. Details of such reconciliations shall be agreed within three months and shall depend upon the proposed solution. |
Joint | The contractor and the authorities shall define and agree training requirements for both BA and Post Office Counters Ltd training. The training services provided shall ensure that 95% of trainees on completion of training shall be able to demonstrate achievement of the agreed level of competence. Pathway has defined its solution for training; this document is with the authorities for discussion and agreement. |
Joint | DSS require access to the management information collected as part of the response to the Benefit Payment System management information catalogue requirements. The nature and form of presentation of this information is not as yet defined but is expected to be presented in report formats to be agreed with DSS by a date consistent with the project plan… |
Joint | The planned roll-out of the Post Office Counters Ltd Service infrastructure for each post office shall be agreed by the contractor and the authorities. |
Joint | The contractor shall produce a testing strategy and plan to be agreed with DSS by a date consistent with the project plan agreed by the parties. |
Joint | Customer Education. The specific objectives and activities of the campaign will be agreed as part of the process started on 31 January 1996. |
Joint | Audit. To agree means of achieving comprehensive audits of various kinds. The content of the audit trail will be agreed between Pathway and BA/POCL. |
Joint | Pathway confirms that cardholder verification methods will be resistant to impersonation and will include an agreed mechanism for identifying the attempted use of a card or temporary token by unauthorised persons. |
Joint | [In the event of the customer being indisposed] … If only a short indisposition is anticipated a temporary agent arrangement will be established, using a procedure to be established in detail with the DSS… |
Joint | In as much as the authorities reserve the right to determine the strategy and pace of roll-out, the effect on service levels, public and user acceptance cannot be quantified by Pathway until such time as the strategy has been agreed and evaluated. Pathway reserve the right to reject an implementation strategy which it cannot sustain or which would give rise to unacceptable contractual, operational or financial constraints. |
Note: Due to the scope of this report, this appendix does not list examples of "agreements to agree" involving only Pathway and Post Office Counters Ltd. Source: National Audit Office review of contract documents | |