24.  AUDITS

24.1  Except where an audit is imposed on the Authority by a Regulatory body, the Authority may, not more than once in any Contract Year and not for a period of 12 months following the Term, conduct an audit for the purposes of reviewing and confirming compliance with the terms of this Agreement or in connection with the Authority's accounts or carrying out an examination pursuant to Section 6(1) of the National Audit Act 1983 on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Authority has used its resources;

24.2  The Authority shall use its reasonable endeavours to ensure that the conduct of each audit does not unreasonably disrupt the Contractor or delay the provision of the Services.

24.3  Subject to the Authority's obligations of confidentiality, the Contractor shall on demand provide the Authority (and/or its agents or representatives) with all reasonable co-operation and assistance in relation to each audit, including:

24.3.1  all information requested by the Authority within the permitted scope of the audit;

24.3.2  reasonable access to any Sites controlled by the Contractor and to any equipment used (whether exclusively or non-exclusively) in the performance of the Services;

24.3.3  access to the Contractor System; and

24.3.4  access to Contractor Personnel.

24.4  The Contractor shall implement all measurement and monitoring tools and procedures necessary to measure and report on the Contractor's performance of the Services against the applicable Service Levels at a level of detail sufficient to verify compliance with the Service Levels.

24.5  The Authority shall endeavour, but is not obliged, to provide at least 15 Working Days notice of its intention to conduct an audit.

24.6  The parties agree that they shall bear their own respective costs and expenses incurred in respect of compliance with their obligations under this Clause 24, unless the audit identifies a material Default by the Contractor in which case the Contractor shall reimburse the Authority for all the Authority's reasonable costs incurred in the course of the audit.