Common use of CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND BENCHMARKING Clause in Contracts

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND BENCHMARKING. 8.1 The Supplier shall have an ongoing obligation throughout the Contract Period to identify new or potential improvements to the Services pursuant to which it will regularly review with the Customer the Services and the manner in which it is providing the Services with a view to reducing the Customer’s costs (including the Contract Price) and/or improving the quality and efficiency of the Services. 8.2 Any amendments to the Services and/or the Contract Price, required by the Customer to implement or effect such improvements identified as a result of the Supplier’s compliance with clause 8.1, shall be implemented by the Supplier (subject to compliance with EU procurement Law and the Framework Agreement) and the Supplier shall implement such variation amendment or improvement at no additional cost to the Customer. 8.3 The Supplier shall ensure that the information that it provides to the Customer in accordance with clause 8.1 shall be sufficient for the Customer to decide whether any improvement to the Services should be implemented. The Supplier shall provide any further information that the Customer requests in connection with any improvements to the Services identified by the Supplier. 8.4 Notwithstanding the Supplier’s obligations under clause 8.1 to 8.3 above, the Customer shall be entitled to regularly benchmark the Contract Price and performance of the Services, against other suppliers providing services substantially the same as the Services during the Contract Period in order to compare the Contract Price and level of performance of the Services with charges and service offered by third parties so as to provide the Customer with information for comparison purposes. 8.5 The Customer shall be entitled to use any model to determine the achievement of value for money and to carry out the benchmarking evaluation referred to in clause 8.4 above. 8.6 The Customer shall be entitled to disclose the results of any benchmarking of the Contract Price and provision of the Services carried out under clause 8.4 to the Authority and any Contracting Body (subject to the Contracting Body entering into reasonable confidentiality undertakings). 8.7 The Supplier shall use all reasonable endeavours and act in good faith to supply information required by the Customer in order to undertake the benchmarking in accordance with clause 8.4 and such information requirements shall be at the discretion of the Customer. 8.8 Where, as a consequence of any benchmarking carried out by the Customer under clause 8.4, the Customer decides improvements to the Services should be implemented such improvements shall be implemented by way of the Contract Variation procedures set out in clause 42. 8.9 The benefit of any work carried out by the Supplier to improve or update the Available Services or to facilitate their delivery to any other Contracting Body and/or any alterations or variations to the Contract Price or the provision of the Services, which are identified in the Continuous Improvement Plan produced by the Supplier pursuant to schedule 6 (Continuous Improvement) of the Framework Agreement and/or as a consequence of any benchmarking carried out by the Authority pursuant to Framework Schedule 7 (Benchmarking) of the Framework Agreement, shall be implemented by the Supplier (subject to EU procurement Law and the Framework Agreement) at no additional cost to the Customer.