The scope of Commercial Assurance spans across the Crossrail Programme, with a particular focus on contracts where Crossrail (CRL) has directly engaged main contractors. Commercial Assurance reviews are focused on assessing, supporting and ultimately assuring that the delivery teams and Tier 1 suppliers working across the Programme are operating to a level of commercial performance that will enable CRL’s cost and commercial objectives to be met, the principal objectives being the achievement of value for money and predictability.
Primary objectives of the Crossrail Commercial Assurance function are:
- Be pro-active; aiding delivery teams (including the Tier 1 supply chain) in establishing appropriate commercial controls and best practice performance levels
- Support capability enhancement; providing access to Crossrail’s functional leaders / their dedicated teams
- Drive continuous improvement; through bringing outside learning into the Programme and acting as a platform to share learning and best practice
- Be efficient to operate; directing resource to aid improvement and to avoid man-marking
- Provide demonstrable evidence to stakeholders; through capturing quantitative evidence of best practice commercial performance
Crossrail’s approach to Commercial Assurance is documented in the Commercial Assurance Procedure which details the different types of commercial assurance, where it is applied and the processes and tools utilised. A learning legacy paper captures Crossrail’s approach to Commercial Assurance Reporting, how the metrics were derived, how they link to corporate objectives and the benefits realised including management decision making, performance improvement and the identification of further needs, such as training, guidance and further targeted risk-based assurance.
