30. 47 per cent of authorities surveyed by the National Audit Office transferred less than a quarter of the staff employed on the contract procurement team to the contract management team. A number of authorities and contractors said they had experienced problems because of the lack of staff continuity within each other's contract management teams.52 The OGC said that its Gateway Review process explicitly tested what the authority's contract management plans were for an acceptable level of continuity.53
31. The OGC said it strongly encouraged continuity between those involved up to the point of contract award and those involved post contract award. If there was loss of memory about what had led to particular agreements in the negotiations, then it must increase the risk that the partnering arrangement would not get off to a good start. The Major Contractors' Group said that although it would expect some links between before and after contract award, the business skills needed to put the deal together were very different from those needed during the progress of the contract. The people building a hospital would not be those who had negotiated the contract.54
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52 C&AG's Report, paras 2.11-2.12, and Figure 15, p19