By Helen Mooney
23 October 2009
The cost of resurfacing roads in England might have increased by as much as 70% in the past six years, according to a National Audit Office report on the work of the Highways Agency.
But the actual increase could not be confirmed because the agency failed to provide sufficient information, the report said. The agency itself estimated the rise to be 17%.
NAO head Amyas Morse said: ‘The latest form of Highways Agency contracts for maintaining motorways and trunk roads provide visibility of costs and the ability to allocate risk
appropriately. But, as is so often the case, a lack of probing analysis of the information which is available, and continuing gaps in some areas, undermine the drive to maximise value for money.’
The report, published on October 16, also highlighted shortcomings in the management of road maintenance contracts. Rather than checking the costs or the quality of work of contractors, the agency focused on verifying that they were meeting their contractual requirements, the NAO said. It found ‘considerable variations’ in the unit costs of road surfacing, whitelining and traffic management.
The report warned that the agency had a ‘diminishing number of staff with the skills necessary to manage’ the contracts. ‘The directorate of the agency that manages these contracts has lost more than 50 engineering staff over the past five years and only had four quantity surveyors at the time of the review.’
23 October 2009
The cost of resurfacing roads in England might have increased by as much as 70% in the past six years, according to a National Audit Office report on the work of the Highways Agency.
But the actual increase could not be confirmed because the agency failed to provide sufficient information, the report said. The agency itself estimated the rise to be 17%.
NAO head Amyas Morse said: ‘The latest form of Highways Agency contracts for maintaining motorways and trunk roads provide visibility of costs and the ability to allocate risk
appropriately. But, as is so often the case, a lack of probing analysis of the information which is available, and continuing gaps in some areas, undermine the drive to maximise value for money.’
The report, published on October 16, also highlighted shortcomings in the management of road maintenance contracts. Rather than checking the costs or the quality of work of contractors, the agency focused on verifying that they were meeting their contractual requirements, the NAO said. It found ‘considerable variations’ in the unit costs of road surfacing, whitelining and traffic management.
The report warned that the agency had a ‘diminishing number of staff with the skills necessary to manage’ the contracts. ‘The directorate of the agency that manages these contracts has lost more than 50 engineering staff over the past five years and only had four quantity surveyors at the time of the review.’
