The procurement process for the
Highways Agency's motorway communications system is three years
late and five times over-budget, a group of influential MPs said
today.
The system, called the National Road Telecommunications Service,
aims to give drivers real-time information about traffic jams and
delays.
The Public Accounts Committee criticised the agency for the
delays and overruns but praised it for transferring risk to the
private sector and delivering the project itself on time.
The committee blamed the lack of control over external advisors
for the
procurement overruns. Advisors cost the agency £15m, five times
more than expected, and the procurement process dragged on for five
years instead of the planned two.
Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee of public accounts,
said, "Public bodies taking forward projects as large and complex
as this should learn lessons from the lack of effective control
which the Highways Agency exercised over its external
advisors."
The committee recommended that the Agency conducts a review half
way through the contract's 10 and a half-year life.
It added that the Agency's choice of a public-private
partnership was justified because it transferred the risks of cost
and time overruns to the private sector.