Scottish Water has awarded a £320,000 consultancy contract to develop and implement a productivity strategy that will identify, and then address, inefficiencies in the client interface with its contractors and in the contractors' construction activities.

Scottish Water went out to tender for the work as part of its aim to achieve a significant efficiency improvement in the delivery of its SR15 2015-21 Capital Investment Programme – the water company identified increased productivity as a key contributor to this improvement.

Yorkshire-based firm Construction Rail And Infrastructure Services, one of four firms in the bidding for the work, has been awarded the contact which will run for two years.

Scottish Water is looking to ensure that its capital investment projects are promoted in a manner that maximises the opportunity for its contractors to deliver projects and consequential customer benefits as efficiently as possible.

When the water company went out to tender, it said recognised the need to improve its client interface with contractors both in terms of process, planning and scheduling, and the timeliness of decision making.

Construction Rail And Infrastructure Services will now work collaboratively with Scottish Water's Alliance partners and framework contractors to harness efficiency opportunities in areas of construction, commissioning, and defect reduction. The consultant will be required to design and implement a programme of skills transfer to a small number of SW employees so they can operate as productivity specialists over the SR15 period.