Covid 19 Impact report

The specification of requirements: In the final year of RIIO-GD-1 (2020/21) and cross over to Year 1 of RIIO-GD 2 (2021/22) the global Covid-19 Pandemic caused disruption to business-as-usual operations and back-office functions at Northern Gas Networks (NGN). NGN applied a stringent safety-first approach throughout this time in strict accordance with the latest government guidance as the pandemic evolved. As a frontline service, NGN was able to maintain some operational workforce during the pandemic, however, there were many instances where planned Capex, Repex or Operational activity was delayed or deferred to manage the workforce and service outputs in response to the evolving situation. In addition, decision making took account of the evolving situation which may have resulted in short term decisions right for that moment in time but not necessarily consistent with NGN's long-term strategy. Ofgem have confirmed that the impact of the Covid Pandemic will be assessed during the close out process for RIIO-GD2 which will take place in 2026-27. Due to the time gap between the pandemic ending and NGN returning to business-as-usual activity and the RIIO2 close out process NGN requires support to document the impact of the impact of the Covid -19 Pandemic on NGN to ensure impacts are documented and retained in corporate memory prior to RIIO2 close out. The scope of this project will target all business areas and key requirements include: • To document the impact of covid-19 on NGN, specifically Repex Programme, Capital Programme, Operational Activity, Delivery of Outputs and compliance with the regulatory contract. • To develop a framework which quantifies the costs of Covid 19 and subsequent workload impact on NGN in relation to decisions made as the pandemic evolved. • To prepare a report focussed on cost and workload which supports the NGN GD2 Close Out Covid-19 submission (recover costs). • The output of the work will be a professional services report capturing short- and long-term impacts of NGN's Response i.e., GD1 then GD2 to future and identify: - Risks faced - How NGN responded - Rational for decisions - Opportunity cost of decisions - Timelines - Costs - Workloads - Impact on customer - Impact on / through the regulatory framework - compared to baseline It is expected that the project will be completed via a suite of onsite interviews/workshops with key senior managers and their teams to facilitate data collection and working with the Regulation and strategy teams to develop a framework for assessment and subsequent completion of a report. It is anticipated that the contract will be completed in a period of 6-10 weeks