Issue - meetings

2.10

Report by the Interim Director for Community Operations

Further to the report to the meeting on May 2019, this paper provides ongoing feedback on the progress of addressing issues raised within the audit inspection of Highway Contract Payments.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note progress to date.

Recommendation agreed

Steve Smith introduced the report.  He recapped on the original problem with the SkanWorks system of tracking payments which meant that the Council could not make payments until they had been manually verified.  At the peak there was a backlog of £6.5m.  Skanska lost five optional one-year extensions on the contract over the problem.  The issue has been substantially resolved now but there is a large backlog of payments to be worked through.  They currently amount to £2.1m.

Steve Smith and Richard Lovewell of Skanska responded to Members’ questions as follows:

·         The management actions referred to in paragraph 3 were driven by the Council side.  Staff will be trained on the new software once it is confirmed to be bug-free.

·         The “mitigation measures” referred to in paragraph 4 are basically not paying until manually checked.

·         Sufficient staffing is there to handle business-as-usual – the difficulty is clearing the backlog.  It should be cleared by the end of the financial year in March.

·         Inspections and KPIs are the primary measures used.

·         Asset management are looking at more automated communications, for example in the case of temporary repairs pending more substantial work.

·         The employment market is challenging at the moment with so much money being put into infrastructure projects.

·         Work done through Oxford Direct Services is not affected.

·         Increased efficiencies are being constantly discussed.  Graphine is currently being trialed.  It’s added to the binder and could increase durability by 25 to 50%.  It also uses hard plastics that are otherwise difficult to recycle.

·         The Skanska contract currently ends in 2023 but there are two possible one-year extensions still to be decided.  The procurement process for the next contract will commence early next year.

The Chairman requested that the service better promote to councillors and the public trials that are being carried out.

It was agreed that the situation was no longer urgent and the Committee would await the outcome of the internal audit in the next few months.

RESOLVED: to note progress to date.