Procurement of a supplier of senior Economist & Highways resources into the Office of Rail and Road

Tender description

1) ORR's Economics team sits within the Railway Markets and Economics Directorate. The team works on a diverse range of economic issues, concerned both with leading development of policy, and providing specialist advice to other parts of the office. Much of the team's work is directed at the regulation of Network Rail, including establishing the regimes for track access charges, and for incentive payments for delays and disruption; and cost analysis, including econometric benchmarking and efficiency analysis. We are proposing a significant change in the regulation of Network Rail, making much more use of comparison and benchmarking to hold the company to account. We are also reforming regulation to encourage collaboration and identifying new approaches to transparency and reporting that sharpen the reputational impacts on the company. It also advises teams across ORR on economic matters, particularly in relation to: the regulation of other rail networks (notably HS1 and, looking ahead, HS2) appraising the benefits of proposals to run train services; developing approaches to regulating new rail infrastructure companies (as the diversity of business models increases); supporting the use of impact assessments, to develop policy and inform decision making across the office. There is now a requirement to identify two senior Economists to join the RME Directorate in leadership roles. Working to ORR's chief Economist, the roles will provide leadership and management of our railway economics team and of our project work, and will lead a team of economists and be responsible for a portfolio of projects. 2)ORR's Highways team fulfils ORR's role as the independent monitor of Highways England and its management of the strategic road network - the motorways and main 'A' roads in England. The team ensures that the strategic road network is managed to deliver performance, including smooth flowing traffic, efficiency, safety and sustainability, for the benefit of road users and the public. We also monitor Highways England's delivery of investment - for example, major road improvement schemes. And we advise the government on Highways England's future performance requirements. There is now a requirement to recruit a 'Head of Performance' to join the Highways team, reporting into the Deputy Director, Highways. The role will lead our operational and financial performance monitoring teams and our engineering team. More details on the Office of Rail and Road can be found here. The purpose of the procurement is to select a recruitment partner who is able to conduct a successful recruitment campaign for two senior Economists and one Head of Performance- Highways. There is an immediate need for these resources so we will be looking for a quick response from the market, and will be looking to appoint a recruitment partner before the end of February.