4 Having scoped the study through the issue analysis, we collected the evidence that would answer our audit questions through three principal work activities:
■ File review;
■ Interviews with key parties; and
■ External advice about telecommunications technology and the costs of such technology.
5 During the file review, we collected contemporaneous records that informed us about the conduct of the Agency throughout the feasibility study and the procurement. The material readily available to us was not complete. With the Agency's personnel focused on managing the Agency's rights and obligations during the build phase of the contract, there was no one with sufficient time to track down all the material we needed.
6 The information we had included:
■ Minutes to Ministers
■ Minutes of meetings of the Agency's project board
■ Reports from the Gateway reviews
■ Bid evaluation reports
■ Risk report
■ Various versions of the public sector comparator
■ GeneSYS's financial model
■ The contract documents
7 We also reviewed emails, letters and notes collected by the Agency that had relevance to the issues that we had identified.
8 To obtain first hand accounts of the views that various parties held about the project, we conducted semi-structured interviews with: key advisers to the Agency (KPMG, Herbert Smith, Hyder and Detica); members from the losing bidders (BT and Serco); and GeneSYS.
9 We engaged Mason Communications Ltd to answer the following questions:
On Technology
■ In 2005, were there any new or emerging technologies that the Agency should have considered?
■ Should the Agency have halted the procurement to consider any known or imminent technological advances that were more likely to meet the Agency's objectives?
■ Since 2005, have any new technological advances occurred that could provide a better service?
■ What are industry views about the impact of in-vehicle satellite navigation on driver behaviour and does this impact on the future relevance of the NRTS?
■ What is the longer-term commercial value of the Agency's telecommunications network?
On costs and risks
■ Were the Agency's cost inputs in its public sector comparator reasonable?
■ Were the Agency's risk adjustments in its public sector comparator reasonable?