Common use of Approach Clause in Contracts

Approach. The Authority requires that SCHs deliver the full range of services described in the specification and the Authority will collect a range of data over the life of the contract to assist in measuring performance against the specification. SCHs are required to report regular performance data such as the Authority consider necessary and this performance data will be used to look for areas of concern to help shape and improve performance. In addition, the Authority requires that providers develop their own tools for measuring and managing their performance and driving continuous improvement. Not all of the data that the Authority will choose to collect will provide a straightforward measure of non-compliance with contractual requirements. Instead it may be used to prompt further discussion and investigation. However, there are a number of areas of the service specified which can be clearly expressed as performance targets. Six such targets and measures have been identified and are detailed at Appendix A. The Authority requires SCHs to measure themselves against these targets in a robust and auditable fashion and report their performance against these targets on a monthly basis. These are not the most important areas of the service being provided nor are they the only areas to be measured. However, they do form a set of clearly measurable targets which can give an indication of basic performance. In addition, poor performance against these six targets will result in performance remedies being applied to ensure contract compliance. Throughout the contract period Authority, through its contract managers and service assurance monitors, will be evaluating the performance of an SCH through visits, meetings and analysis of performance data collected both as part of the contract performance measures and other generic data. Because the evaluation of performance will be on a continual basis, poor performance should come to light at an early stage and not be an issue that is discovered at the end of each performance quarter. Where poor performance is discovered Authority will work closely with the SCH to improve performance on an urgent basis.