NSORC for the Past Months

The request was partially successful.

Dear Highways England Company Limited,
It's been months since NSoRC was withdrawn what's happened since?
I am asking for all information about costs since and the actuals being used.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Jones

Highways England,

This is an automated response:

 

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If you’re reporting a real time issue which requires immediate attention
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A map of the roads for which we are responsible can be found here
[1]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk....
If the road you’re interested in isn’t on this map it will fall under the
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Highways England Company Limited | General enquiries: 0300 123 5000
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Bingham, Alex,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Jones,

 

Please find attached our response to your freedom of information request
of 24 February 2020.

 

Kind Regards 

 

 

Alex Bingham

Lawyer | Operations and Legislation Team | General Counsel’s Office

 

Highways England | Bridge House | 1 Walnut Tree Close | Guildford | Surrey
| GU1 4LZ

T: 0300 470 4416       M: 07707 649 965

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Highways England Company Limited | General enquiries: 0300 123 5000
|National Traffic Operations Centre, 3 Ridgeway, Quinton Business Park,
Birmingham B32 1AF |
[4]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... |
[5][Highways England request email]

 

Registered in England and Wales no 9346363 | Registered Office: Bridge
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Mr P Swift left an annotation ()

The Authority replied:

I am writing to confirm that we have now completed our search for the information, which you requested on 24th February;

It's been months since NSoRC was withdrawn what's happened since?
I am asking for all information about costs since and the actuals being used.

Unfortunately, due to the current working situation brought on by Covid-19, where offices have closed and Highways England staff are working remotely, it was not possible to provide a response to your request within the statutory 20 working day timeframe on this occasion. I am sorry we were unable to provide our response to your request within our expected timeframe, but would like to thank you for your patience regarding this. We are now able to provide a response.

Please note that the National Schedule of Repair Costs (NSoRC) was only trialled as a pilot in limited areas, and was not adopted nationally. In areas where NSoRC was not trialled, there were no changes and we generally continued to pursue claims on the defined costs (in effect actual costs) of carrying out the repairs.

Since the suspension of the NSoRC pilot, Highways England has reverted to pursuing claims on the defined costs basis. Any claims that were priced under NSoRC and not settled either have been, or will be, repriced using the defined costs and will be resubmitted.

Where a claim may have reached the point of litigation, the claim will not be litigated under NSoRC and legal proceedings already issued have been, or will be, amended to reflect this.

The process for calculating defined costs can be found by referring to the model Conditions of Contract for Highways England Asset Support Contracts (ASC). This is available online;
(https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov....).

The term ‘Defined Cost’ refers to a definition in the contract which can be found in clause 11 at point (27). The Defined Cost is calculated in accordance with the definition.

The exception to the above on current contracts is Areas 3 and 9. These Asset Support Contracts (ASCs) were amended on 4th February 2020 and the contractor (Kier Highways Ltd) seek to recover the reasonable cost for below threshold repair or replacement of the damaged asset using national standards.

They price unscheduled damage claims using a fixed schedule of charges, derived from first principles using the Construction Industry Joint Council (CIJC) Working Rule Agreement and Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) Schedules of Equipment Rates. These are both nationally recognised standards.

The invoices which Kier Highways Ltd send will now be accompanied by a statement detailing the resources and associated rates which have been applied. Further details concerning these changes will be provided by Kier Highways Ltd in their updated guide to insurers.

Mr P Swift left an annotation ()

the NSoRC being 'trialled' is contradicted by the Authority, see: http://www.englandhighways.co.uk/highway... - 'The NSoRC is not a Pilot … yes it is … '

Actual costs are not being used
The response is incomplete, incorrect