7. Management Coordination and Control

7. MANAGEMENT COORDINATION AND CONTROL

7.1 The Present Situation

According to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Principles of Team Collaboration which forms part of the contract documentation between the Agency and WRc, and WRc and its partners in the Topic Centre the consortium will be managed by a Management Committee comprising one representative from:

• AWW
• CEDEX
• IOW
• INAG
• NERI
• NIVA
• VMM
• The Deputy Project Manager (nominated by CEDEX/IOW)
• One Observer(from the CEDEX/IOW former consortium)
• The Project Manager (Dr Tim Lack)
• The Technical Coordinator (Steve Nixon)

This consists of 11 members, of whom all but the Observer and Technical Coordinator have a vote.

The Management Committee attracts considerably more than 11 participants (sometimes around twice that number) because of the desire to involve other partners and because the board agenda contains technical issues requiring the attendance of technical specialists to support the board members.

At a meeting of the Management Committee at WRc in early December 1995 it was agreed that the Management Committee should remain small (i.e. no larger than at present but with an agreed plan to significantly reduce the representation). The technical details should be considered by a Technical Committee which would refer back to the Management Committee for advice and ratification. In this way funds at present being allocated to meetings and travel can be directed into project tasks (i.e. direct work).

7.2 A Method for Maintaining Future Technical Control of the Work Programme

It was agreed that the Management Committee should be concerned only with management and control and should delegate the technical responsibility to a Technical Committee consisting of a smaller number of partners who have the desire and the resources to participate actively in the technical work of the Topic Centre.

The composition of the Management Committee and Technical Committee were agreed as follows:

It was agreed that the frequency of meetings should be two times per year for the Management Committee (probably 1 day meetings) and four times per year for the Technical Committee on the understanding that ad hoc meetings of either committee could be convened should the need arise and with the agreement of the EEA Project Manager. It was also agreed that the Technical Committee could co-opt other members on an ad hoc basis depending on the needs of the agenda and that the EEA Project Manager should be invited to attend the Technical Committee meetings at his discretion.

The Topic Centre partners believe that this improved management and technical control structure will allow it to function in a more efficient and cost effective manner in keeping with the wishes of the Agency and reflecting the proposed structures for new Topic Centres.

The Management Committee have formally met during 1995 at the following dates and locations:

Full minutes have been provided for all partners and copied to the Agency. The Management Committee meetings also provided the basis for the scheduled Quarterly Progress Reports to the Agency.