ANNEX VIII: Action Plan Protocol

The Authority will require an Action Plan to be developed by the Contractor in the following instances:

•  Any Step-In event occurs in respect of the Works or Services;

•  Performance levels on any individual SMS measure fall below the Minimum Tolerable Level for either of 2 consecutive calendar months or 3 individual months in any 6 month period; and/or

•  Any individual complaint reaches the Stage 3 level, whereby it is passed to the Authority for action.

Within the Action Plan, the Contractor is expected to (as a minimum):

•  Identify the causes of failure, and provide a clear plan of action to remedy such faults to prevent future reoccurrence.

•  Propose monitoring and reporting measures to assess the effectiveness of any remedial action taken.

•  Provide a clear timescale for the implementation of such remedial measures and the period of monitoring.

A draft Action Plan is to be presented by the Contractor to the Authority for comment and approval within 10 Working Days of any of the above measures being triggered.  Where the Authority has comments, these should be made within 15 Working Days of receipt of the draft - failure to do so will deem approval of the Action Plan.  The Authority may also approve the Action Plan.

Where comments are made by the Authority, within a further period of 5 Working Days these should be considered by the Contractor, who should then amend the draft Action Plan accordingly and re-present it to the Authority who should respond as above.  In the event that this process continues for 3 cycles without agreement, then the matter will be passed to the Chief Executive of the Authority and [insert name] of the Contractor for resolution.

The Authority cannot unreasonably withhold approval of the Action Plan.  Any approval by the Authority does not remove any liability from the Contractor in meeting its obligations under the Project.

Once approved, the Action Plan is to be implemented, managed and monitored in accordance with its agreed content.  Where subsequent amendments are required to the Action Plan, these should be presented to the Authority for its comment and approval under the same process as outlined above.