The composition of the contract management team is likely to change over the life of a project, which can be more than 30 years. Continuity of knowledge is a challenge for all major projects, especially those with long life spans such as PPPs. The team therefore needs to be managed in such a way that performance does not suffer over time. It is important to have procedures in place to ensure knowledge is retained and passed on when staff leave.
Teams generally change between stages of a project, with distinct skills required during procurement, construction and operations, detailed in Section 3.1 (Transitions). This carries the risk of loss of knowledge with departing team members.
The research highlighted the important role a Procuring Authority's leaders can play in the overall success of a project. In some instances the Procuring Authority recruits these leaders on a long-term contract basis, as recognised leaders within the industry, who are capable of taking charge of the overall success of the project.
EXAMPLE Continuity of key staff A range of projects highlighted the benefits of the continuity of key staff through the different stages of a project. On a waste project in the UK, the majority of Procuring Authority staff were involved in the procurement process, and hence had a good knowledge of the contract. The Segarra Garrigues Irrigation System project in Spain highlighted the benefit of having continuation of staff between the construction and operations phases. For more information, see the Segarra Garrigues Irrigation System Case Study. |
The Procuring Authority should, however, avoid the situation where it is too reliant on any single individual. One way of doing this is by having adequate succession plans in place. In some jurisdictions there are restrictions around public sector employees staying in a particular post for more than a few years, which presents an added challenge for contract management of long-term projects such as PPPs.
Training new employees is important to the continuity of knowledge; they must be brought up to speed on the project through the handover process. Information management is also important in this respect, and the Procuring Authority needs to ensure that information is recorded effectively and comprehensively, so new employees can access the full details of the project in a systematic manner. Training requirements are detailed in Section 2.2 (Contract management team training) and information management is detailed in Section 3.4 (Information management).