PhD Final Thesis April 2013.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

Appendices to Thesis Keith Gale 2013I would think that its definitely the framework contracts. Once you’ve got thatestablished you’ve immediately got a longer period of time having that continuity ofemployment (or opportunity for continuity of employment) which is there for aperiod of time which is bound to forge better relationships between the parties,because as the start of these framework contracts both parties would be under theunderstanding that they’ve got to work together through the forthcoming number ofyears; so they’d both be aware that they have to work together, there must be someadequate partnering, and then I think as they progress they’re likely to be able todevelop that relationship anyway. I think taking its natural course these will becomebetter and stronger relationships. Obviously towards the end of the frameworkperiod, you’d like to think that the contractor would have one eye on again beingsuccessful during the procurement of the renewal of the contract. For the employer orthe supervisor team or the client or whomever, there’s always going to be an elementof.. ‘well ok, he’s got a couple of bad points but its better than someone we don’treally know and there’s not going to be any surprises. We know who we’re workingwith’ and there’s a lot to be said for that I think. You can sort of identify any issuesthat are going to come up and you can sort of use the same contractors. Whereas ifyou’re always using a different one you never really know what to expect.Q13 In your view, does the use of key performance indicators help the parties gainbetter performance with projects? Why do you think this is?I think its essential as part of the framework contract. I think it probably is a key partof it. The actual quality aspect is what you’re looking to achieve as part of theframework and in order to make it work, you’ve got to have that procedure in placeto be able to demonstrate an accurate measure of performance. Without it, everythingthat is likely to be subjective, although it can be difficult to measure and is likelysubjective at times I think, it is perceptual, it needs to be in place, and that’s the issuewith it. As long as both parties are signing up to that at the start and agrees with theframework as part of the tender, everyone is aware of what’s included so I don’tthink its an issue that can be subjective. I think that for most people that work in theindustry, their professional views may vary to some degree though they wont varywidely.418