Partnering

The Egan Report

The report of Sir John Egan entitled ‘Rethinking Construction’ has been adopted by the DETR and the Housing Corporation as the basis for best practice in the commissioning of construction and maintenance contracts.

The principles of Egan aim to change the adversarial atmosphere of most maintenance and repair contracts for local authorities and housing associations which have led to contractor mistrust and contract mismanagement culminating in tenant dissatisfaction.

The Egan Report defines the objectives that should be the aim of both parties to a Maintenance contract as being:

To get it right first time

Tenant’s reported repairs should be completed wherever possible on the first visit by the Contractor. Additional visits are often viewed by tenants as being symptomatic of the failure of the maintenance and repair service from both their landlord and the contractor

The need to show value for money

For all aspects of the Maintenance service.

NHF Schedule of Rates Model Partnering

The NHF Schedule of Rates was first published in 1994 and has since developed into a full suite of model contract documentation for the procurement of reactive, void, cyclical and planned term maintenance, repair and servicing contracts covering all types of work generally required, particularly in the social housing field. The documentation is easily adaptable to suit any client and has become widely established, proven and used throughout the UK. The NHF Schedule of Rates suite of documentation was pioneering in that it already addressed many of the key issues relating to partnering (such as KPIs, appointments, joint pre/post inspections, variation self authorisation limits, direct computer links, payment, customer satisfaction and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms) long before other specialist forms of partnering contracts were published.

The new NHF Model Partnering Document has been developed from the NHF Schedule of Rates suite, specifically designed to be used as the principal mechanism for payment and performance monitoring under a partnering arrangement

It is formulated on the basis that a traditional tender will be sought, but bringing in the ethos of partnering from day one, by the incorporation of a non-legally binding partnering agreement. This sets out the aims, objectives and aspirations of the various partners together with management and dispute resolution procedures, amendments to the standard contract conditions to incorporate dispute resolution procedures. A separate KPI framework is included, dealing with the operation of the various project and partnering teams, covering aspects of client and customer satisfaction, quality, productivity, profitability, health and safety and environmental impact. The KPI framework is in addition to the performance targets incorporated in general terms and conditions of the partnering contract

The NHF Schedule of Rates is adopted as the initial basis of payment from the client to its contractor(s) and would remain as such until any alternative form of payment, monitoring and cost validation reconciliation process has been developed and agreed via facilitated workshops. The NHF Schedule of Rates can continue to be used to benchmark costs under any “open book” arrangement.