Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services

Tender description

The suite of TfL professional services frameworks are TfL's and its Group Companies', Greater London Authority and its Functional bodies and all London Boroughs primary means of accessing engineering, planning and project management support and expertise from the external supply chain. In line with its commercial strategy, TfL continues to work within a category management approach for replacing the current suite of frameworks. Fundamental to the success of the programme is ensuring that the intended users have access to the necessary technical and specialist skills and services to meet their requirements. The key strategic objectives of the new suite of frameworks includes higher quality service provision, reduced costs and greater value for money. Project management is the discipline of planning, organising, motivating, and controlling resources to achieve specific objectives. Prog Mgmt is the co-ordinated management of a collection of related projects which have been grouped to achieve an organisation’s strategic objective. Portfolio management is the selection and management of all of an organisation’s projects, programmes and related business-as-usual activities taking into account resource constraints. A portfolio is a group of projects and programmes carried out under the sponsorship of an organisation. Portfolios can be managed at an organisation, programme or functional level. A programme office serves the organisation’s project management needs. A programme office can range from simple support functions for the project manager to being responsible for linking corporate strategy to project execution. Project controls is an umbrella term for many tools and techniques used in a project’s implementation. Planning translates strategy into action and defines how programmes and projects will deliver the anticipated benefits and outcomes. In order to create the plan, the process of scheduling is used to determine the overall project duration and when activities and events are planned to happen. Planning includes identification of activities and their logical dependencies, estimation of durations and resource constraints. Lean consulting is where the organisation requires consultancies to provide services by applying lean methodologies. It is a business activity where experts provide the knowledge, tools and expertise to advise and guide the organisation to perform better. Lean works to prevent any waste of time and resources, etc. by optimising inefficiencies and preventing waste. Business case management comprises of the strategic justification (benefits, cost and risk) for a project, and shows an analysis of economic, political and social impacts. It takes full account of detailed objectives of the project, as well as higher level organisational and external stakeholder objectives. Business cases should be compliant with both DfT and TfL standards and methodology and use TfL tools where available. Risk management involves the systematic identification of risks to the strategies, programmes and projects against agreed objectives and benefits and evaluating options for mitigating them. It ensures that those with risk and opportunity management responsibilities implement appropriate measures for success during the project and review and report them on a regular basis. Construction management (CM) is the business process that supports a project by providing key construction expertise, skills and processes. A project is a visible set of activities having specific start and completion dates undertaken to create a quantifiable deliverable, through well managed milestones and resources — identifying stakeholders and inter dependencies and keeping all parties clear about their goals and individual responsibilities. Construction managers must plan, coordinate and monitor onsite construction health, safety, quality and environmental activities in order to provide managerial oversight for the safe operation of the works. Assurance management is defined as the extent that requirements have been complied with and that controlled processes have been followed in achieving the deliverables. Assurance is a level of confidence based on realistic appraisal.