Under the incentive scheme, firms such as quantity surveyors might earn an extra 10-20% of their basic fee, says contract and supply director David Meek.
Those that fail to hit targets risk losing the profit on a job and possibly a proportion of overheads.
Railtrack, which is believed to spend more than 拢100m a year on consultants, has piloted the incentive scheme on the 拢2bn-plus West Coast Main Line project. The formula is to be extended to construction projects from this month, including the station renewal programme. It will not be used on safety-related work.
The bonuses can be earned on large individual schemes or new-style 鈥減ortfolio management鈥� work, where, for example, a consultant is jointly responsible for implementing a signalling system in an area over 12 months.
The consultants are up for this approach. This is the way the market鈥檚 moving
David Meek, Railtrack
Meek said: 鈥淲e are committed to a philosophy of continuous improvement. The consultants are all up for this approach. They all say this is the way the market鈥檚 moving.鈥�
He said a quantity surveyor, for example, working on a year-long programme of improvements to 100 stations that helped to bring the package within budget, would be eligible for a bonus. Any overruns might lead to penalties.
One QS who works for Railtrack welcomed the scheme. He said: 鈥淕iven how low quantity surveyors鈥� fees are these days, we have got to look at any opportunity to boost our income. There鈥檚 an obvious risk if we fail to reach our targets, but we have to back ourselves.
鈥淩ailtrack is a demanding, some would say difficult, client, but it is being very fair over this. If you think the consultants are under pressure, you cannot begin to imagine what it is like for the guys at the client end.鈥�
