FOI request detail

Payment of contractors for bus stop works

Request ID: FOI-0172-1920
Date published: 02 May 2019

You asked

Hello. I wish to request information regarding whether TfL pays contractors when they do things wrongly. On 12 Mar this year i asked your customer service: -- Regarding the Stratford gyratory works of late, at one point in the lengthy chaos of confusion about where to catch buses when this was in flux, you changed the letter codes on the discs at the top of bus stops, re-using many in different positions. Publicity at bus stops was not always in sync with this, especially as, as was admitted to me when i complained about this near the time, the contractor responsible for changing the discs did it two days earlier than supposed to. My question now is - was that contractor paid for that piece of work, which they manifestly did incorrectly, causing massive confusion to would-be passengers? If they were paid, what is the point of using contractors for things when it could be done in-house, where you'd have to pay your staff anyway? Surely a main advantage of contracting people is that you don't have to pay them for not doing it as specified. -- The gist of their response (13120292) was: -- We employ contractors to carry out works were we don’t have permanent staff. We pay contractors for work carried out and will address any failure to fulfil a contract on a case by case basis. -- So i followed up on 26 Mar with: -- Thank you, But this does not answer my question as to whether the contractor was paid for this work on this occasion. Note it was not the route tiles, but the red discs with code letter on top of the stops (as i made perfectly clear in my 12 Mar email) that were changed prematurely. Since some letters were being re-used immediately in other nearby locations, and there was a need to coordinate this change with the bus stop publicity changes, the timing was critical. I was told (possibly by the Stratford gyratory works contractor, and confirmed by someone else, possibly in a previous email from TfL) that the contractor error was known at (or within a couple of days of) that time. So it is of legitimate public interest whether TfL was soft on these people and paid them anyway (and hence whether it's soft on contractors generally), or whether TfL takes a robust attitude and incentivises contractors to pay attention to instructions so that they carry them out accurately, and doesn't waste public money paying for work not done correctly. So please answer the question i asked: were they paid for this particular piece of work? And was it that TfL was at fault by not making it clear that the change had to be done during a narrow time window, not just whenever they felt like it? -- They responded (13177354) that I should ask you instead (tho it is tiresome that i should have to ask yet again, when it is my understanding that good FOI practice requires you to automatically treat requests for information as FOI requests if necessary). So the crux of my FOI is the questions above. Please also give the name of the contractor, and comment on how frequently TfL use them. Do you have guidance documentation for managers to decide whether and what % contractors should be paid for incorrectly done work?

We answered

TfL Ref: FOI-0172-1920

Thank you for your email received by TfL on 5th April 2019 asking for information about recent works carried out on bus stops in Stratford.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require.

TfL used two contractors to undertake the work referenced in your email: Trueform for changes to the bus stop/shelter infrastructure (including the point letters on bus stop flags) and Mitie for posting timetables and other customer information such as the spider maps. The timetables and customer information materials are supplied to Mitie by TfL. We use suppliers rather than directly employ staff as it is a more cost effective and efficient way of carrying out this type of work, which can have fluctuating levels of demand. The contracts were let in line with EU procurement rules.

I can confirm that the contractors were paid for the works at Stratford, and that no payments were withheld on this occasion. TfL gives contractors a date by which work must be carried out, which is normally the date the bus service changes come into effect. When there are big changes to the bus services not all the work can be carried out to align exactly with the go-live date and we do plan for work to be carried out in the few days beforehand. We apologise that the early change caused confusion in this instance. TfL staff check the quality of contracted work after it has been reported as completed and can withhold payment until rectified if incorrect. Any works that have been inadequately completed but have been certified for payment are rectified by the suppliers without further cost to TfL. There are contractual Key Performance Indicators that set out the level of service required and result in further penalties if not met.

If this is not the information you are looking for please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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