Published date: 9 January 2018

Last edited date: 9 January 2018

This notice was replaced on 20 February 2018

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Awarded contract (published 20 February 2018)

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Civil engineering consultancy services - 71311000

  • Business and management consultancy and related services - 79400000

Location of contract

Any region

Value of contract

£30,000 to £40,000

Procurement reference

ORR/CT/17-79

Published date

9 January 2018

Closing date

30 January 2018

Contract start date

14 February 2018

Contract end date

12 April 2018

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

The backdrop for this requirement is our PR18 periodic review of Network Rail which needs to take into account:
• Network Rail's reclassification as a public sector arm's length body;
• a revised funding structure for the CP6 control period ;
• our route level approach for PR18; and
• the separate funding arrangements and periodic review determination that apply to Scotland.
We wish to commission a report that sets out whether Network Rail's allocation of costs to its Scotland route (about 10% of the total) is reasonable, and consistent with best practice. The report will feed into the work of ORR's Regulatory Finance team on the financial framework for PR18. We expect to publish minded to positions on a range of financial issues in spring 2018 and our draft PR18 determination in June 2018.
The consultant will be required to produce a report that addresses the following questions:
In the context of the separate funding settlement for Scotland -
1. Are Network Rail's cost allocations to Scotland reasonable and consistent with best practice for each type of cost? These costs include overheads (e.g. HR costs), central activities (e.g. timetabling) and central programme costs, e.g. digital railway.
2. How could the Scotland route participate in any company-wide risk fund pooling or self-insurance arrangements? If Network Rail has used an approach, is the calculation of the contribution to be paid by Scotland reasonable?
3. Are there instances where Network Rail uses a top down approach to cost allocation (e.g. allocating HR costs by number of staff) where it could instead use a bottom up approach? For example, what is the cost of providing HR services to Scotland? A further example of this issue would be the allocation of working capital balances in the NR financial model.
4. Where relevant, how robust is NR's bottom up challenge to its top down allocations? How extensive has this been and how does this compare to best practice?
5. Is a policy of allocating some project development costs across all routes, even where the project may not have commenced in some routes (for example trial costs associated with new technology) reasonable with respect to the Scotland route, given its separate funding?
6. Are there any arguments for moving away from a policy under which infrastructure projects costs are always attributed to the route in which the infrastructure is built (for example Carstairs junction). Reference can be made to the question we asked on this issue in our first consultation on the financial framework and the responses received. Reference may also be made to earlier review work commissioned by ORR on this point.

More information

Attachments

Additional text

Prospective bidders are advised to register on to the tender via ORR's eTendering Portal early as all further information regarding this tender will through the portal.Bidders should note the end dates/times for the submission of requests for clarification and proposals as set out in the ITT document.

About the buyer

Contact name

peter gamble

Address

One Kemble Street
London
WC2B 4AN
England

Email

peter.gamble@orr.gsi.gov.uk