& Commercial Services

Background How We Can Help

With global economic pressures hitting The commercial community in Network programmes and tight control of scope the rail industry as hard as any other rail has developed tried and tested and cost change. sector, there has been in recent years methods of maintaining all these Reviews of completed are an increasing focus towards the supply considerations in every step of the undertaken to ensure lessons learned chain to gain efficiencies and to deliver procurement process. Starting with a are fed back into future maximum value for every pound spent. well managed community of suppliers to make sure an environment of with whom time is invested to develop continuous improvement drives Of course, with a growing demand and relationships, measure performance everything we do. a high degree of visibility there is no and manage outcomes. room for compromise – therefore cost savings must be real; safety and quality Great attention is paid to commercial cannot be diluted, innovation must considerations at the early stages of be encouraged and investment must a project, ensuring the strategy that is continue. formed will enable the procurement to be undertaken effectively. Professional The Challenge teams then balance experience and rigorous process to invite and evaluate The challenge for supply chain robust tenders. professionals is to balance the Mature relationships with suppliers demands of safety, quality, reliability, facilitate meaningful negotiations performance, timeliness and to ensure clarity behind the range of sustainability – whilst reducing costs, pricing and evaluating models used to increasing value and maintaining arrive at solutions. affordability. After contract placement the commercial teams manage the contract closely, ensuring compliance with requirements, maintenance of delivery

For more information please visit www.networkrailconsulting.com There are many recent examples of European Train Control Multi disciplinary contracts procured that demonstrate the principles outlined here being used System Frameworks frameworks to achieve success. The European Train Control System Multi disciplinary frameworks covering (ETCS) is part of the European Rail billions of pounds worth of civils and PRISM Traffic Management System (ERTMS) railway works have been formulated. PRISM is the tool we use to assess the – a tried and tested signalling system Let for periods of a minimum of 5 performance of suppliers and our own which will replace traditional line- years and allowing individual jobs to performance in enabling them to carry side railway signals with a computer be commissioned on a target cost out their contract. display inside every train cab, reducing basis. Price and performance data can the costs of maintaining the railway, be captured and used against future The tool was developed in conjunction improving performance and enhancing works and significant costs are saved with the supply chain and various safety. by avoiding the need for repetitive functions across Network Rail to drive tendering. a culture of continuous performance The framework agreements awarded by improvement. Network rail has generated innovation and collaboration by contracting early The PRISM process enhances existing with our partners who were then paid meetings (eg to develop technical solutions jointly. progress meetings) rather than adding additional requirements; it requires Track Renewals contracts project managers to document Track Renewals contracts were let on a discussions that should already be long term basis with unit rates reducing happening. on an annual basis – contractors were Trends between the projects and over motivated by being allocated a share of time are quantified and analysed , gains made – not just by them but by allowing meaningful supplier account Network Rail as well. discussions and improvement plans to be put in place.

For more information please visit www.networkrailconsulting.com