Case Study

Mersey Gateway Project utilises AWARD®

Listed as one of the top 10 most innovative urban mobility projects in the world, Halton Council in partnership with Halcrow Group are using the eEvaluation tool AWARD® to evaluate bidders on the Mersey Gateway Project.

The Client Profile acknowledged by the then Minister for Halton is a local government district in Transport, making it clear the need to North West , sitting on either side develop a scheme for inclusion in the of the and made up of the Council’s Local Transport Plan. Halton towns of and together Borough Council subsequently began to with the villages of Hale, Moore, advance the second crossing proposals and . With a for approval. population of just under 120,000 people Costing £600million, 70% of which is the was formed in funded by the private sector, the Mersey 1974 and became a Gateway Bridge is a major scheme to in 1998. provide a 6 lane toll bridge over the River Working to key procurement stages the The borough is an urban, industrial area Mersey, connecting the towns of Run­ project team must also make sure the supporting a significant amount of corn and Widnes. The aim is to relieve project remains on target to deliver chemical, manufacturing and heavy congestion on the financial close in Autumn 2013. industry employers. and for the investment in new infrastruc­ ture to lead the way for the regeneration Role and value of Commerce Linking part of the borough’s vital of Halton and the North West and the Decisions and AWARD® creation of over 4,600 jobs. highways network is the council owned With over 10 years experience in deliver­ and Grade II listed Silver Jubilee Bridge. ing the electronic evaluation tool The Silver Jubilee bridge is a key structure In 2012, the Mersey Gateway project was AWARD® on strategic UK Public Sector providing passage across the River included in the KPMG Infrastructure 100: procurements, Commerce Decisions were Mersey, and is the only pedestrian and World Cities Edition, noting the Project­ as chosen by the £600m Mersey Gate­ vehicular crossing point between Widnes an example for it’s innovation and impact way Bridge project team to provide the and Runcorn. With over 80,000 vehicles on society. AWARD® tool so that bidders could be using The Silver Jubilee Bridge every evaluated in a robust, controlled and weekday the bridge is consequently a The Procurement Challenge transparent way. bottle neck. Making sure the procurement function was up to the task was key, and due to the The AWARD® solution is a comprehensive­ With the provision of a second complexity of the project, and the supplier evaluation tool. Delivering crossing, sought potential for bidders to propose an efficient approach to strategic to relieve The Silver Jubilee Bridge from different technical, financial and legal procurements that involve multiple traffic congestion and to drive forward solutions, the council are using the stakeholders, high levels of risk, and regeneration. Competitive Dialogue procedure. The significant budgets. chosen procedure means processes and The Project regulations need to be closely managed. In 1999 Halton Borough Council’s Unitary A clear audit trail must be captured Development Plan identified that the highlighting why decisions were made, case for a new crossing had been with losing and shortlisted bidders being debriefed effectively. “AWARD® was a key tool Commerce Decisions has extensive experience­ in helping project teams AWARD® Benefits that allowed us to efficiently maximise the use of AWARD®. Com­merce ® manage our procurement Decisions is dedicated to working with key AWARD delivers a transparent audit trail processes. We found AWARD® project stakeholders in developing­ robust that underpins the bidder debriefing process and detailed evaluation criteria­ when and manages any challenges to the outcome to be helpful in making the using the Competitive Dialogue and other of the procurement. evaluation pro­cess as simple types of procedures. AWARD® is highly flexible, enabling full ® and effective as possible. At AWARD for Evaluators integration of the tender requirements and the same time, it is helping to Forming the core part of the evaluation, policies. ensure that the procurement evaluators securely log in to AWARD® and respond to the relevant number of AWARD® enables project users to be process­ is completed in sections and questions assigned to them. managed centrally, optimising the time spent a robust and transparent Project user access and progress can be on evaluating suppliers. manner.” monitored by a delegated administrator, making sure that all questions are AWARD® is delivered via a security Matthew Fearnhead Project completed effectively and on time. ­accredited hosted service. Users can Co-ordinator, Mersey access AWARD® from any workstation with AWARD® Consensus scoring Gateway Project Team an internet connection and web browser. Each key area of the evaluation is AWARD® helped the project team overseen by a Consensus scorer. The Powerful reporting capabilities allow a range overcome challenges such as: Consensus scorer will review evaluator’s of selected reports to be generated quickly collated responses and rationale to and tailored to your project. • Make sure suppliers develop detailed arrive at a final score. Scores are weighted submissions helping the Council and aggregated to provide a final result, Enhanced controls allow better management shortlist 3 preferred bidders where suppliers are then ranked against of tender stages leading to efficiencies and each other forming the basis for selection • Manage team members workloads of the preferred supplier. on time project delivery. to help complete the project to the ® provides a structured and intended programme timescales Bidder debriefs AWARD compliant approach to the execution of a One of AWARD’s key strengths is its • Make sure bidders are engaged procurement. throughout the tender process ability to generate instantaneous bidder debrief reports, allowing clear and • Manage a number of documents and transparent information about why a data that need to be accessed easily decision was made to be presented to and rapidly bidders, helping to significantly reduc­ing the risk of legal challenge. AWARD® has been used throughout the public and private procurement Summary community to deliver more than £60 AWARD® is a software tool used across billion of contract decisions. the UK Public Sector on strategic procurements, to help projects complete ® AWARD provides efficiencies above on time in a structured and fully traditional paper and Excel based auditable manner. By taking this approaches by providing a controlled approach QCDL has been able to support and collaborative best practice method to some of the UKs most high profile ® supplier evaluations. AWARD is proven­ to projects totalling over £60bn. help reduce and manage risk effectively,­ and help deliver projects on time to a high standard.

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