Further to minute 61 (21/6/2010) the Director of Technical Services reported upon progress in addressing the recommendations of the Gateway 5 Review carried out in respect of the Highway and Engineering Services Contract.

The Gateway 5 Review which was carried out by the external Local Partnerships Organisation considered the operational arrangements in place and looked to establish the extent to which the qualitative and quantitative benefits that were identified during the procurement exercise had been realised. It highlighted a range of good practice and innovation that had taken place to date, together with the operational achievements of the service. The Review Team further noted the identification and tracking of benefits “to be highly systemised and exemplary”.

The Review Team found that despite the challenges of introducing a contract of this scale that the contract was now running much more smoothly, and was delivering value for money and improving levels of both technical quality and customer care. The Team found that the Council had achieved the benefits expected from the new contract, at the time of the Review, including significant cost reduction. However, they recognised that there were significant risks associated with the contract which would need to be resolved to secure future benefits realisation.

The Reviewers made a number of recommendations, which together with a commentary on progress in acting upon those recommendations (Appendix 1 refers).

The Reviewers concluded that the Delivery Confidence Assessment was measured as Amber/Green, and defined as “Successful delivery appears probable.  However constant attention would be needed to ensure risks did not materialise into major issues threatening delivery.”

Resolved – That the Committee:

(1)  Note the contents of the Report.

(2) Request a further report on the completion of actions required to meet the Gateway 5 Review recommendations, and for this to be presented the January meeting of this committee.