HA decision to publish CAT scores comes under criticism from Amey

The Highways Agency’s (HA) decision to publish a league table of its suppliers Capability Assessment Toolkit (CAT) scores has come under stiff criticism from Amey, one of its own key suppliers.

In March the HA decided to publish its league table of CAT scores, as tipped by CJ. Amey was placed 10th out of the 19 contractors assessed with a score of 173.5.

“The CAT process is in great danger of getting over complicated and not achieving what it set out to achieve,” Amey Infrastructure Services’ managing director Chris Webster told CJ.

“We found the CAT process to be a very good driver for improvement, it’s a good tool. However, it is not appropriate to provide CAT league tables [of scores]. It’s not possible. I am skeptical of it.

“Far too much is read into a league table and the scoring isn’t robust enough to create a league table which is appropriate. If you take it forward on the basis of business improvement side, that’s a good thing but in its current format there shouldn’t be a league table.

“You can’t compare companies as you will be comparing apples with pears. However, I am supportive of independent assessment which involves having a good look at your company and showing how you can improve your business.”