Surrey CC wants a ‘fresh approach’, following a turbulent experience under a dual-contractor highways partnership.
The council has announced it is looking to secure a new contract to improve the county’s highways, which brings an end to the Surrey Highways Partnership.
For the past six years, Ringway and Carillion have worked to maintain and improve Surrey’s roads on behalf of the council, under a highways term contract.
However, Ian Lake, Surrey’s cabinet member for transport, admitted it was time for a change, following a number of ‘issues’ with the alliancing agreement.
The current £20m-a-year deal has been in place since 2003, and had an option to continue until 2013. It saw the contractors sharing resources and working on each other’s patch, yet incorporated performance and productivity measures with incentives to drive continuous improvement.
At the time of its launch, Surrey’s then chief executive, Paul Coen, described the partnership as a ‘win-win situation’ (Surveyor, 19 June 2003).
However, just three years into the ‘next generation’ deal, a council inspector found a repairs team working for Carillion had wasted most of a shift. Monitoring of crews was further stepped up two years ago, after Ringway was also found to have under-productive workers (Surveyor, 25 January 2007).
Mr Lake said the council had worked with the contractors to learn lessons and resolve issues, where possible. He explained the commitment would continue until the contract expired in 17 months. ‘Our prime focus must always be to deliver the highest standard of service, while providing maximum value for money,’ he said. ‘I am confident we are now in an excellent position to seek a better, more competitive deal.’
The council’s cabinet had considered an option to extend the contract under a new joint venture company made up of Ringway and Carillion. But the decision was made to reject the extension and procure a new contract.
A spokeswoman for Carillion told Surveyor the contract had ‘gathered a positive momentum over the past two years’ and the firm was pleased to have achieved a three-year extension out of a possible five.
A Ringway spokeswoman confirmed the organisation looked forward to bidding for the new county-wide contract. Following the tendering process the successful bidder will begin operating from April 2011.
Over the course of the past two years, the council has repaired 40,000 minor defects including potholes, resurfaced 200km of road, and completed more than 300 highway improvement schemes. The contract has also prevented flooding by cleaning 180,000 gullies and addressing 30 wet spots. Complaints to the department have dropped by one-fifth.
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