DRIVING IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE SCOTTISH TRUNK ROAD NETWORK: LOCAL AUTHORITY CONSULTATION – DECEMBER 2008

ISBN 978-1-906006-41-9 (Web only)

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CONTENTS

PURPOSE OF CONSULTATION
MAP OF THE SCOTTISH TRUNK ROAD NETWORK
THE CONSULTATION PROCESS
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
PART 1 – REVIEW OF CURRENT MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE ARRANGEMENTS
PART 2 – POTENTIAL FUTURE DELIVERY STRATEGIES
PART 3 – INFORMATION ON EXISTING OR POSSIBLE FUTURE COLLABORATION/PARTNERING ARRANGEMENTS
PART 4 – FUTURE CONSULTATION
ANNEX A

PURPOSE OF CONSULTATION

Scotland is now moving forward to deliver integrated transport at a strategic level more effectively. In pulling together different modes, the contribution of the trunk road network is inescapable. To allow the full range of movements on which commerce and industry, communities and society depend, the Scottish trunk road network needs to be managed as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Over the years, Scotland has been at the forefront of good practice in managing its network through the deployment of techniques to assess road pavement conditions,
in encouraging the development of materials best suited to the Scottish climate and conditions, and through procurement structures such as design and build contracts to deliver good value for money. Arrangements made for maintaining the road networks have also reflected changing circumstances.

Current arrangements, set in the Operating Company contracts, which came into effect in 2006 and 2007, reflect a transition in practice over the last 12 years. It is now an appropriate time to reflect on current practice and to consult on whether the current arrangements remain the most appropriate way to continue to drive improvements in the future. This Driving Improvements consultation paper presents options for continuing or introducing new arrangements. It is seeking to also ensure that as many opportunities as possible for collaborative and partnership working with other parties are incorporated into future Operating Company contracts.

By undertaking consultation at this time alternative options, which because of their greater sophistication may require significant extra preparation, can be fully considered. It is only through the engagement of as many parties with this consultation that the efficiency objectives for Scotland’s road network can be fully realised.

In 2006, John F. McClelland CBE published his Review of Public Procurement in Scotland Report & Recommendations, commonly referred to as the McClelland Report. Recommendations in the McClelland Report included the pursuit of greater collaboration and partnering by public bodies, greater sharing of knowledge by public bodies and ultimately the delivery of efficiency savings to the public purse.

The existing third generation management and maintenance term contracts for the Scottish trunk road network will expire between March 2011 and March 2014. It is therefore an appropriate time to begin considering how the trunk road network in Scotland should be managed and maintained beyond these dates and to start planning any required changes.

Significant levels of expertise exist within the engineering and procurement teams of individual public and private organisations. Driving Improvements is seeking access to these knowledge bases with a view to gaining professional advice on possible future service delivery strategies and potential collaboration/partnering opportunities that offer the real prospect of overall efficiencies and economies of scale for Scotland.

MAP OF THE SCOTTISH TRUNK ROAD NETWORK

THE CONSULTATION PROCESS

Individual Contributions

Driving Improvements is seeking feedback on:

• the current management and maintenance arrangements;
• potential future delivery strategies; and
• the potential for future collaboration/partnering opportunities.

To supplement the responses to the questionnaire accompanying this consultation document, face-to-face interviews and/or workshops may be conducted.

Responding to this consultation paper

For Driving Improvements to be a success it is important that as many professional views as possible are taken into account. We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 20 February 2009.

Please send your response with the completed Respondent Information Form (see ‘Handling your response’ below) to: drivingimprovements@transportscotland.gsi.gov.uk

If you have any queries contact David Hamilton on 0141 272 7364.

We would be grateful if you would use the local authority consultation questionnnaire provided.

If there are other issues that you consider to be relevant to the development of the next generation of contracts, please do not hesitate to include your views in your response.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form which is enclosed with this consultation paper as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public (see the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library one month after close. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the Scottish Government Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the shape of the fourth generation term contract for the management and maintenance of the Scottish trunk road network. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process three months after close.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the e-mail address given above.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Scale and role

The trunk road network comprises of all motorways and some of the main A roads in Scotland. The current view of the Scottish Government is that the trunk road network should:

a. Provide the road user with a coherent and continuous system of routes which serve destinations of importance to industry, commerce, agriculture and tourism;

b. Define nationally important routes which will be developed in line with strategic national transport demands; and

c. Exclude those roads which predominately serve local needs.

The Scottish trunk road network forms approximately 6% of the total public road system by length, yet carries 37% of the total traffic volume and 62% of all heavy goods vehicles. Traffic flows can range from 1,600 vehicles per day on rural trunk roads to over 160,000 vehicles per day on the busiest stretches of motorway. The network is therefore pivotal and vital to the social and economic wellbeing of Scotland.

The Scottish trunk road network budget for 2007/08 was approximately £170 million.

Responsibility

Local Roads Authorities are responsible for all non-trunk roads in Scotland whilst the trunk road network is the direct responsibility of the Scottish Ministers, who have statutory responsibility under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 for its management and maintenance. Scottish Ministers have established the national transport agency Transport Scotland to oversee their statutory responsibility.

Approximately 3,123km of the trunk road network is now directly managed and maintained through four individual term contracts. This excludes the M6 DBFO and M77 PPP contracts which have separate management and maintenance contracts in place.

Five objectives have been identified for the Scottish Trunk Road which future Operating Company contracts will be expected to deliver:

1) Customer Service: To enable a ‘customer oriented’ approach to be further developed in the way roads are managed and maintained.

2) Value for Money: To achieve the maximum efficiency in the use of the substantial sums of money expended on the maintenance of the network.

3) Effective Management: To encourage innovation and skilful management to maximise trunk road capacity and gain the best use of the network.

4) Flexibility: To accommodate change to the trunk road network.

5) Reliable Journey Times: To assist in the provision of journey time information to Traffic Scotland.

PART 1 – REVIEW OF CURRENT MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE ARRANGEMENTS

Framework, Duties and Auditing

The current third generation of term contracts has seen the Scottish trunk road network continue to be separated into four geographical units (see page 2). Four successful bidders have each established an Operating Company to run one of the four units for five years, each extendable to seven years at the discretion of Scottish Ministers.

Each Operating Company term contract is considered to benefit from operating under the ethos of a partnering culture delivering a spirit of openness and trust. The integrated delivery team has eliminated duplication of effort, optimisation of risk allocation/management and with performance and continuous improvement allowed measurement against auditable key indicators.

The Operating Companies deliver a complete management and engineering service, providing the
day-to-day maintenance tasks, winter treatment including provision of all storage plant requirements. They undertake projects valued individually up to £250,000 ‘as of right’ for the renewal and improvement of the fabric of infrastructure and arrange competitions for larger works under discrete contracts whilst supervising the winning contractors.

The existing contract documents for the third generation of term contracts can be found at http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/road/maintenance-and-management/3rd-generation-operating-contracts

PART 2 – POTENTIAL FUTURE DELIVERY STRATEGIES

Transport Scotland is keen to ensure that the future management and maintenance of the Scottish trunk road network, makes substantial progress towards achieving the recommendations as set out in the McClelland Report. Three possible long-term strategies for future service delivery have been identified. It is recognised that Driving Improvements may conclude with a hybrid strategy or indeed an entirely different strategy being identified as most desirable.

Strategy 1 – Developed Operating Company Contracts

This strategy would seek to continue with the principles employed for the third generation term contracts whilst taking into account the experiences learned and also seeking to establish greater partnership working between the new Operating Companies and Local Roads Authorities.

Strategy 2 – Developed Operating Company Contracts (including Collaboration Framework Contracts)

This strategy would similarly to Strategy 1 seek to develop the Operating Company Contract but in addition it would also make upfront provision for participating Local Roads Authorities to procure services through it.

Strategy 3 – Maintain, Finance and Operate Contracts

Under this type of contract, the service provider would fully take over the management and maintenance of the trunk road network within a unit, maintain the network to a pre-determined standard and would return the network at the end of the contract in a pre-determined condition. The service provider would have real ownership of the network for the duration of the contract and might receive payments purely in terms of continuing availability and traffic use, and incur liabilities in relation to levels of service, road safety and quality of contract compliance.

Strategy selection

PART 3 – INFORMATION ON EXISTING OR POSSIBLE FUTURE COLLABORATION/PARTNERING ARRANGEMENTS

Benchmarking

"In any environment, understanding an activity’s performance and results compared to those of other undertakings is not only interesting, it provides the opportunity to recognise success or otherwise relative to peer operations. It also provides the stimulus for positive action and also potentially information which through additional analysis and understanding can drive improvement through the spread of best practice. In the private sector although companies do rely on benchmarking internal efficiency and external results there is often, for obvious reasons, a reluctance to share best practice with outsiders, particularly competitors. This inhibitor should not exist in the public sector."

McClelland Report 2006

Co-ordination

The existing third-generation contracts make provision for liaison between organisations for the co-ordination of operations.

Collective purchasing

The McClelland Report states that substantial savings should be possible through the collective buying power of public bodies.

Economies of scale

The McClelland Report states that substantial savings could be made possible through economies of scale with respect to service delivery.

PART 4 – FUTURE CONSULTATION

Future consultation

ANNEX A

List of Consultees
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeenshire Council
Angus Council
Argyll and Bute Council
City of Edinburgh Council
Clackmannanshire Council
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
Dumfries and Galloway Council
Dundee City Council
East Ayrshire Council
East Dunbartonshire Council
East Lothian Council
East Renfrewshire Council
Falkirk Council
Fife Council
Glasgow City Council
Highland Council
Inverclyde Council
Midlothian Council
Moray Council
North Ayrshire Council
North Lanarkshire Council
Orkney Islands Council
Perth and Kinross Council
Renfrewshire Council
Scottish Borders Council
Shetland Islands Council
Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS)
South Ayrshire Council
South Lanarkshire Council
Stirling Council
West Dunbartonshire Council
West Lothian Council