The importance of rigorous monitoring of road repair gangs has been acknowledged by Surrey County Council and Carillion after one clocked-up less than one hour of work in an eight-hour shift.
While both Surrey and Carillion stressed that a case where a gang wasted most of a day driving around, talking and visiting a bakery was an isolated incident, they both highlighted how monitoring of work was being increased.
The partnering deal, established three years ago, sought to combine the trust and partnership ethos of other innovative contracts of the day with robust performance management (Surveyor, 3 March 2003). But after a Surrey inspector found that workers were wasting the time they were being paid for one day last December – findings obtained by the Daily Mail newspaper – changes have been made.
A spokesman for Carillion said: ‘The example given of our gang only working one hour in a day should be taken in context as an isolated incident. Since then, we have introduced tracking equipment in vans, restructured teams, and changed the way we respond to clients’ instructions.’ A spokeswoman for Surrey said talks were ongoing with Carillion over the possibility of increasing monitoring of future works. Carillion has also over-invoiced Surrey by £1M, which the authority will not pay, while the council also believes a further £750,000 of work has not been carried out. Surveyor understands a similar monitoring report into work conducted by Ringway, which maintains the roads on the six of the 12 boroughs Carillion is not responsible for, is also due to be produced.
Councillors on the county ‘transportation select committee’ were due to consider the performance of Carillion and Ringway against seven key performance indicators as Surveyor went to press. Officers recommend extending both the firms’ contracts, but in Carillion’s case, by one year rather than the maximum two years.
Carillion was marked down on customer satisfaction and health and safety issues, with scores of 75% and 59%, but only fell short of the 90% target for delivering work within agreed times and dates by a whisker, with a score of 89%. It was recommended Ringway’s contract should be extended for the maximum-possible two years.
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