Merlin – weaving some more magic ?
DWP has released the presentation slides used at the Merlin Standard pilot final roll-out meetings in central London with FND round one Primes on 17th Feb and Subcontractors on 18th Feb.
Merlin is the DWP project to support the Code of Conduct that governs relationships between prime contractors and their subcontractors. It includes the following elements:
• creating a new accreditation standard for organisations "that play fairly"
• an independent ombudsman and mediation service to review potential breaches of the code
• a support framework for organisations in the sector.
Last September, the DWP appointed Carley Consult to develop a support and monitoring regime for prime contracting and subcontracting - see http://indusdelta.co.uk/story/rumour_car...
The pilot roll-out presentations explain the Merlin Standard and how it relates to the Code of Counduct. They also show how the assessment processes and adjudication will work and provide an introduction to the Merlin web portal.
The file attachments on this page are 2 cut-down PDFs of the 60 pages of these presentations.
More details of Merlin are at: www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy... (scroll down the page to reach “Code of conduct” and “Merlin”. The first draft of the Merlin Standard can be downloaded here: www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/sub-contracting-merl...
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| MerlinPresentations17-18_Feb2010-1.pdf | 1.38 MB |
| MerlinPresentations17-18_Feb2010-2.pdf | 948.22 KB |
Comments
Some scenarios, perhaps for an FAQ on Merlin:
1. Carley Consult wrote my bid for FND1 and could probably expect to write FND2 as well. Can they be trusted to come along and tell me that I didn't implement FND1 as I said I would, which may adversely impact on my success at bidding for FND2?
2. I am in the throes of struggling with FND1 implementation, due to a combination of bad weather, operational start-up problems that are only now beginning to be worked out of the system, low referrals and resulting revisions to the financials. Is this really the right time to be faffing about with a Merlin standard that no-one particularly wants or understands?
3. Why are Carley Consult any more qualified to pass judgement on my provision than anyone else?
4. Can Carley Consult's findings impact on DWP's commissioning for FND Round 2? If yes, are they sufficiently objective? If no, what's the point?
5. Hasn't the horse already bolted on this one? FND Phase 1s are in place with chunky 5 year contracts, many with few subbies, some with all new subbies, at least one with no subbies. Is it Pertemps that have decided to go it alone with FND? I'd love to see an analyis of their Supply Chain Management.
6. [this comment has been moderated .. ]
7. Why does the Merlin Standard logo look like a Barn Owl?
7a. What is it with logos? Why is it that the logo for the 2012 Olympics looks like ...
[moderator: Raven, I'm cutting more of this stuff because it's off-topic and slightly vulgar]
In response to question 6 ... [this comment has also been moderated ..]
Sorry to butt in ... the horse and bolted question is a good one.
Surely the Merlin Standard should be achieved BEFORE anyone gets given a contract, not AFTER. Surely prime contractors should have to prove they are going to work ethically, responsibly, in line with the required standards in advance of getting multi million pound contracts. So isn't that part of the approved provider process rather than a post contract award hoop that needs to be jumped through?
Am I missing something or is this all just the wrong way round?
Depends what you want Merlin to do, Lazarus. I think it's supposed to show you're living up to your pre-contract promises of what a good PC you would be - in which case you can only really be measured on it after you've become one. If you want it to be a precursor to contracting then what you're actually after is the criteria for a preferred supplier list - in which case Merlin isn't suitable at all.
I'm not convinced that DWP really know what Merlin is for or what they want from it. I think they thought it just seemed like a good idea at the time.
I'll just take your "Merlin isn't suitable at all" comment on it's own. We know what Merlin does, and the concept is sound on it's own eg without any other processes linking to it, surrounding it or influencing it. It's like an NVQ for primes, but surely a better preferred supplier process and a bit of post contract monitoring was all that was needed (after all we do have Ofsted as well measuring this sort of thing). It would be simpler, cheaper and mean there are less hoops for providers to jump through.
This does highlight how limited the preferred supplier process is. It's like giving providers 6 months after contract award to present their policies eg sustainability etc. If everyone is committed to the ideal they should have the policy in place before the contract is awarded. But I suppose that's a whole other discussion!