Supplier Update | September 2018

From next week, I will be stepping into the role of interim regional director Southern. During this time, my role as commercial and development director will be covered by Eoin O'Neill, deputy regional director IP Central. Eoin will continue to work closely with suppliers in the lead up to CP6 to ensure we remain aligned during this crucial period. Lisa Webb will take on the role as commercial director for Central throughout this time.

I am pleased to announce that we have also appointed Dal Chatta, previously commercial director track, as procurement director for IP. The role will involve coordinating all of our major procurement activity, ensuring it is delivered in accordance with our governance procedures.

Dal will also be looking to streamline our supplier strategy and ensure that as Network Rail, we better understand our supply chain, to make sure it is well equipped to deal with the requirements of CP6 and beyond.

Please do give Eoin and Dal your full support.

Matthew Steele
Commercial and Development Director

Reviewing our standards

We are encouraging contractors, suppliers and stakeholders to propose changes to our 'standards' – these are the detailed requirements that underpin how the railway and the delivery of improvement projects are run. We have already updated and streamlined 400 of these standards to reduce both complexity and cost, and to encourage innovation.

If you have ideas around how we can better maintain and enhance the railway, we would like to know about them through our new standards challenge process.

Brian Tomlinson, chief systems assurance engineer, explains in a new video how these changes are to encourage greater innovation, cost efficiency and third party funding into the rail network, whilst maintaining safety - watch the video here.

You can also visit www.networkrail.co.uk/OpenForBusiness to see all the latest updates and find out more.

Changes to project advice notices

Project Advice Notices (PANs) are a vehicle for communication within Infrastructure Projects, used to communicate formal advice and instructions rapidly and consistently.

Previously, a register of all PANs has been held alongside the Network Rail standard and issued by external publishers; however, this standard is due to be withdrawn from external sites shortly.

Going forward, the PAN register will be available on the IP Supply Chain webpage and communicated out on a quarterly basis via these updates.

Sharing best practice - rail temperature monitoring app

Our IP Track team have recently developed a critical rail temperature monitoring app 'CRT-SMART', which is currently being deployed across the supply chain.

CRT-SMART allows critical rail temperature (CRT) assessments to be conducted on site using smart phones, tablets and laptops, instantly sending them to the CRT Coordinator to check and authorise their entry into the CRT register. This significantly reduces the time taken for CRT data to be entered, allowing our suppliers to better manage their CRT sites.

Training is currently be rolled out across the supply chain, but if you would like any further information, please get in touch at contactIP@networkrail.co.uk.

Rail Roadshow

We are supporting Rail Media's upcoming procurement event 'Rail Roadshow', which aims to enhance the supply chain's knowledge of the procurement process and ultimately help businesses tender and win work.

The event will feature expert industry professionals offering helpful information and advice on the best methods to tender within the rail industry, including Jo Dunn, IP Head of Procurement. The day will also involve a selection of interactive workshops.

The roadshow will take place on Thursday 22 November at Bird & Bird, London. You can find more information here: www.railroadshow.com.

Dates for your diaries

21 September
Western and Wales - supplier engagement event
If you would like to receive an invitation and further information, please get in touch at contactIP@networkrail.co.uk

November
National Supplier Conference
Further information will be available shortly and details of the event listed on our Supply Chain webpage and publicised in this Supplier Update.

22 November
Rail Roadshow
You can find more information and register at www.railroadshow.com