Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
organisation, although other factors may be taken into account. Indi-
vidual budget holders are often able to sign off procurements up
to approximately £100,000. However, contracts valued at tens of mil-
lions of pounds invariably require board or board sub-committee
approval. For the system of governance to work in practical terms there
must be suffi cient time to allow the client organisation to confi rm that
the requirements are met and, where internal governance processes
require approval, time must be allowed for the scheduled monthly board
meetings.
Assurance
The procurement assurance process allows for a fi nal check before
releasing procurement documentation into the market. This takes the
form of an assurance review, which re-examines the entire procurement
document pack, including the questions to be asked in the tendering
process and the issues that may arise in relation to particular areas for
evaluation. The assurance review is often invaluable in uncovering
minor inconsistencies and last-minute changes. It is also used as a fi nal
test on the compliance and robustness of documentation, ensuring con-
sistency with overall policies and procedures.
This additional step in the procurement process critically assesses and
coordinates the work of many people to ensure that the work within
their areas of expertise and in relation to their specifi c details forms a
consistent whole and meets the overall objectives of the client. The real
value of the assurance review is that it allows the relevant specialists
to confi rm that their requirements are adequately covered in the docu-
ments. It also permits the assurance staff to test the assumptions and
robustness of the description of the scope of projects contained in the
documents from an independent and unbiased perspective. The assur-
ance process creates a period of refl ection to consider the documentation
and confi rm that the procurement documents are released in a fully
formed and well-considered state.
The assurance process inevitably involves a number of people.
However, one person should be appointed to act as the assurer for each
individual project or package being procured. The assurer then appoints
others as necessary to review and test the documentation. By its very
nature the assurance process is iterative; the process is repeated until a
satisfactory conclusion is reached. The fi rst assurance review may reveal
a number of issues, to which the procurement team and the technical
