NS&I has contingency plans for a number of scenarios in place

3.23  NS&I is committed to managing risk within its organisation. In line with good governance arrangements and in response to the Committee of Public Accounts' report13 on the NS&I and SBS partnership, NS&I has developed a Partnership Continuity Plan which identifies the risk of early termination of the contract. NS&I appointed a Business and Partnership Continuity Manager to be responsible for keeping the plan up to date.

3.24  The plan is based on a number of scenarios described in Figure 10. The plan covers in detail:

■  Stabilisation of the business

■  Re-tendering process

■  Handover to new provider

■  Call-off contract details

■  Cost of invocation

■  Monitoring of risk and management of the escalation process

■  Potential alternative providers

■  Potential legal issues

■  Roles and responsibilities

■  Project Plans

3.25  The work on the plan is productive in supporting the longer-term needs of handback requirements. A joint working group has been set up to facilitate handback arrangements and it is, for example, involved in drawing up an asset register for the business.

3.26  As part of the Partnership Continuity Plan a range of consultants are on standby to support NS&I in crisis and interim management, project management, tendering, legal advice and communications. NS&I can send out an Invitation to Negotiate very quickly if required and has allocated contingency roles to key NS&I managers if its operations had to return to the public sector for a temporary or prolonged period.

10		NS&I's Partnership Continuity Plan is based on Four Scenarios
		Source: NS&I

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13  HC 566 1999/00.