Private contractors hired to undertake pothole work

I am submitting a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for details relating to private contractors hired by your council to undertake pothole repair work. 

Please provide the following information for each of the financial years 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 (to date):
1. Private Contractors Used:
a. Which private contractors or service providers has the council engaged to carry out pothole repair work during each of the above financial years? Please list all contractors used in each financial year.
b.  How much has the council paid to each of these contractors for pothole repair services in each of the same financial years?
c. For each contractor listed:

i. Does (or did) the private contractor subcontract any part of the pothole repair work to third parties? If so, please provide the names of any subcontractors involved and if held, the total amount they were paid for the work in each financial year. 

2. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
Please note: This section refers only to the main contractors hired by the council, not their subcontractors.
a.  What Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are included in the contracts or agreements with these private service providers regarding pothole repair performance (e.g. response times, repair durability, inspection pass rates)?
b.  For each financial year, please indicate whether each contractor met, partially met or failed to meet these KPIs.

3. Auditing and Quality Control:

Please note: This section refers only to the main contractors hired by the council, not their subcontractors.
a. Does the council audit or inspect pothole repair work completed by their private contractors?  If so, please provide details of the process (e.g. frequency of checks, who conducts them, what criteria are used).
b.  Please also provide the outcomes of these audits for each of the above financial years and whether there were any financial penalties, contract deductions, ended contracts,warnings or performance improvement plans issued as a result of a failed inspection

1a. Balfour Beatty have been Lincolnshire County Council’s term maintenance contractor since April 2020.

b. Pothole repairs form a part of a much larger contract delivering a wide range of services across Highways. It is therefore not possible to put an exact figure on the amount paid for an element of the service as the operatives that complete pothole activity carry out a variety of reactive work types. However, in broad terms for the reactive element of the service (which includes pothole repairs, along with all other minor reactive works), Lincolnshire County Council has paid £6.2m, £9m, £10.3m, £12.8m and £4.2m (year to date) for the years identified within this request. c. Balfour Beatty use a number of supply chain partners to assist with providing this service. However, their payments are part of the wider payments made by Balfour Beatty as they usually provide services much wider than pothole filling. We are therefore unable to detail the payments made. A list of subcontractors who have provided some of these services over the years in question is below;

Keily Brothers

RSM Maintenance

CF Construction

Nu-Phalt Contracting

WN Surfacing

Everton Construction Services

This list may not be exhaustive as some subcontractors may have provided labour or equipment only and may have been used to supplement Balfour Beatty internal resources. Also not included are the traffic management providers who are also engaged in the provision of this element of the service.

2a. Pothole repair performance is forms part of a wider number of performance indicators which are a key part of the contract and the management of the service.

However, there are three specific indicators dealing with response times to the various repair categories detailed in our Highway and Infrastructure Asset Management Plan and generally cover the reactive element of the service.

These are measured quarterly and presented at the Highways and Transport Scrutiny committee where the records can be found at Committee details Highways and Transport Scrutint Committee