NEC Contract Management System for Costain in Wales

Management Process Systems Limited (MPS) has announced that their innovative Contract Change Management (CCM) system, which supports the NEC form of contract, has beenselected for three important highway projects in Wales.

Following the successful implementation of CCM on the Ebbw Valley Railway for Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, the Greater Bargoed Community Regeneration Scheme for Caerphilly County Borough Council, the A499 Aberdesach to Llanaelhaearn Improvement for Gwynedd Council, and the M4 widening project for the Welsh Assembly Government, CCM has been selected for three more highway projects, all with Costain as Contractor.

The £90m Church Village project for Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council consisted of 7km of single / dual carriageway and eight Structures or underpasses and was completed on time and under budget. The Project Manager for the scheme was Capita Symonds.

Ian Walsh, Director of Capita Symonds, Glamorgan office said: “Our colleagues at Capita Symonds at Cwmbran have used CCM for a couple of years and we have found the same benefits in that the system provides the necessary control and management in accordancewith the NEC Contract.”

The £40m project at Robeston Wathen on the A40 in Pembrokeshire will be completed in early 2011. Parsons Brinkerhoff are providing the project management services for the Welsh Assembly Government. This project consists of by passing the village of Robeston Wathen with a 3KM new build, 3 KM of online widening and improvements, side road links, environmental mitigation and a new river bridge at Canaston Bridge.

The third project is a recent award for the Port Talbot Peripheral Distributor Road Stage 2 project for Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. This will cost £59m and is expected to be complete during 2013. The road will be from junction 38 on the M4 into Port Talbot and the docks, and will see the completion of the link to junction 42 and west Wales. There will also bea bridge built over the Swansea to London railway line, as well as a new entrance for Port Talbot Tata Steelworks.

Costain Project Manager Mark Young said: “This is our first experience of CCM, and whilst initially a little sceptical, having used it now for 2 years we fully appreciate the benefits it brings to the change management process on medium to large scale projects. CCM has been an extremely effective tool on the A40 and the user friendliness of the software, contractual accuracy and system support offered by Robin Wilkin and MPS is worthy of credit.”

The Internet based CCM system, provided by MPS, is designed to manage the contract change processes set out in the NEC form of contract, versions 2 and 3. CCM is currently being used by an extensive range of clients around the UK, on civils, power and building projects. Key benefits include timely agreement of change, quality assured contract administration, the early completion of final account, improved contract management discipline, instant visibility of risk and change issues, improved change management, quality assured processes, consistency, instant access to risk spend data, rigorous audit trail, andinstant availability of Excel reports over the web - all leading to reduced risk and reducedcosts. University of the West of England proven benefits include potential savings of £52,000.

The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CCM system is delivered through an agreement with IBM for Server Managed Services. This agreement includes data centre, hardware equipment and software products, internet services, security and support services.

Robin Wilkin, Operations Director of MPS said: “MPS are now recognised as the established industry leader in NEC contract management systems. We are very pleased that Costain has joined a number of major national contractors to gain the business benefits of CCM along with their clients. We are also pleased that first class engineering consultants such as Capita Symonds and Parsons Brinckerhoff are extending their use of the system. We look forward to continuing partnerships with colleagues in Wales.”