To address this challenge, we firstly needed to understand the complexities involved, identifying and engaging with all key stakeholders. A multitude of perspectives were considered including financing, regulatory demands, legal, asset management and technological considerations. Our Programme Lead was appointed to the Programme Board and represented SSE’s Chief Procurement Officer in all matters relating to the programme. This ensured that we were present and available to both enable and further discussions surrounding the programme. In addition, our knowledge of the programme was always up to date enabling us to be aware of any factors that might impact upon the success of the project and allowing us to mitigate those risk factors immediately.
Following detailed discussions, we agreed the following key objectives:
- Develop a procurement strategy for £1.2billion expenditure on Smart Meters and associated installation and maintenance contracts.
- Put the required system integration contracts in place to deliver £400m plus in IT system changes.
- Recruit a team of permanent staff and transition the service back to SSE.
We worked closely with SSE’s legal team to draft and negotiate bespoke terms with the metering providers. It was necessary to ensure that the terms and conditions provided robust provisions and consequences surrounding time, cost and quality failures, in order for SSE to adhere to regulatory obligations imposed upon them. As a result of detailed work with the legal team, the contracts we negotiated shared the regulatory risk with the supply chain and were UCR 2016 compliant.
In addition, we recruited high calibre, passionate procurement professionals dedicated to concluding the successful programme in line with SSE’s 2020 regulatory target.