15th September 2006, 02:22 PM
Before PPG 16 and competitive tendering, we had a system that effectively amounted to a series of county-based or region-based franchises. It may have been idealogically better, but it was infinitely worse for both the archaeology and archaeologists.
Developers only pay for archaeological work because they are told they have to by the planning authority. If they then have no choice in who will do the work, and have to pay whatever the franchise-holder chooses to charge, they are being treated very unfairly. In the modern world, I could see legal challenges going to Europe.
In competitive tendering, price is usually (though not always) the main determining factor for success. However, it is entirely possible to put quality barriers in place that prevent cowboy units from tendering in the first place. We sometimes do this through a 'pre-qualification' process. Wider adoption of quality standards, and stricter enforcement through this kind of process, can ensure that the winner in any tender is the cheapest unit that can show that it will do a quality job and has a quality track record.
Incidentally, our pre-qualification process covers pay, welfare facilities and safety issues as well as archaeological ones.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
Developers only pay for archaeological work because they are told they have to by the planning authority. If they then have no choice in who will do the work, and have to pay whatever the franchise-holder chooses to charge, they are being treated very unfairly. In the modern world, I could see legal challenges going to Europe.
In competitive tendering, price is usually (though not always) the main determining factor for success. However, it is entirely possible to put quality barriers in place that prevent cowboy units from tendering in the first place. We sometimes do this through a 'pre-qualification' process. Wider adoption of quality standards, and stricter enforcement through this kind of process, can ensure that the winner in any tender is the cheapest unit that can show that it will do a quality job and has a quality track record.
Incidentally, our pre-qualification process covers pay, welfare facilities and safety issues as well as archaeological ones.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished