Commercial Support for Mass Roll-out of Smart Metering Upgrades
Requirement The Data Communications Company (DCC) built the data and communications infrastructure to support the mass roll-out of smart electricity and gas meters to homes and small businesses in the UK. One of their programmes of activity was the SMETS1 Programme which took the infrastructure supporting the smart meters already installed and upgraded it to have similar functionality to the infrastructure supporting the latest generation of smart meters being rolled out. DCC required commercial and support services assistance to ensure excellent contract management and governance for this programme.
Delivery To support the SMETS1 Programme we were required to ensure that appropriate contracts were in place with all the service providers developing the functionality to upgrade the infrastructure supporting the meters to the enhanced specification. The value of these contracts, covering both the development and the ongoing support of the new infrastructure, was in the region of £1 billion. We worked alongside DCC’s commercial team to:
Develop their contractual models.
Facilitate the drafting of all contract schedules.
Negotiate the commercial terms.
As DCC transitioned from a project-based enterprise to a fully-fledged operational business, robust governance processes and commercial ways of working were also required. We supported the commercial team to design and implement new commercial controls and processes including:
A stakeholder management plan.
Commercial management information (MI).
Contract change procedures.
Procurement process.
Supply chain performance tracking process.
Definition of the supply chain management function.
A communications plan.
A commercial departmental guide.
Result The initial contracts (valued at approximately £400 million) generated by us have been negotiated and awarded. The contracts have achieved healthy double-digit savings compared to the current prices to the industry. The technical expertise provided built a robust MI toolkit and the processes implemented continue to support regular recording and reporting of commercial metrics such as achievements, actions, contracts, disputes and claims and savings within the DCC’s commercial team.