ATKINSRÉALIS RAIL & TRANSIT LIMITED

Our standard supplier payment period is 30 days from date of invoice. Certain suppliers have shorter payment terms but none have longer terms. Therefore, 30 days represents our maximum contractual payment period. There were no changes to our standard contractual payment terms during the reporting period.

The wording of the ‘Price and Payment’ clause in our standard form of contract is as follows:

Subject to the Supplier performing its obligations in accordance with the terms of this Contract, AtkinsRéalis will pay the Price to the Supplier in accordance with this Clause.

The Price is inclusive of all:
Costs and expenses incurred by the Supplier, including all packaging, insurance, carriage and Delivery costs;
Travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses; and
Royalties, licence fees or other expenses arising from the use or sub-licence of AtkinsRéalis, their employees, sub-contractors or agents of any IPRs supplied by the Supplier for the purposes of the Supplier fulfilling their obligations under this Contract.

The Price is exclusive of Value Added Tax (“VAT”) (and any similar or equivalent taxes, duties, fees and levies imposed from time to time by any government or authority).

The Supplier will invoice AtkinsRéalis for the Price on or after Delivery. Each invoice issued by the Supplier will be a valid VAT invoice and will contain the following information:
Contract Manager;
Contract Manager staff number (usually 6 digits long);
Invoice date;
Invoice number;
VAT number;
Full break down of the charges and description of the Deliverables invoiced (including delivery date); and
Line total VAT amount (VAT should be presented as a separate line on all invoices).

The Supplier will provide such supporting information with the invoice as may be required by AtkinsRéalis to assess whether the amount invoiced is correct.

If the Supplier issues an invoice which does not comply with [the immediately preceding clause] AtkinsRéalis will be entitled to return that invoice to the Supplier in which case the original invoice will be void and the Supplier will issue a replacement invoice which complies with [the immediately preceding clause]. For the avoidance of doubt, the replacement invoice and not the original invoice will trigger the payment obligation under [the immediately following clause].

Subject to [the preceding clauses], each invoice shall be payable by AtkinsRéalis on the payment date that is specified in the Contract Details.

If AtkinsRéalis disagrees with any invoiced amount, it will give written notice to the Supplier specifying the amounts it disputes. Such disputed amount shall not become due and payable by AtkinsRéalis until 30 days following the date of reissue of an invoice specifying the agreed amount due.

If any sum payable under this Contract is not paid on or before the due date for payment the non-defaulting party will be entitled to charge the defaulting party interest on that sum at a rate of 2% per annum over the base lending rate from time to time of the Bank of England, such interest to accrue from the due date until the date of payment and shall be calculated on a daily basis. Interest will not be chargeable on any disputed sum.

Purchase invoices are routed for approval via our electronic work flow system. Where the nominated approver declines to approve the invoice, the reason is communicated via the work flow to our finance shared services team. The supplier is then contacted to advise of the dispute, providing the stated reason and the contact details of the employee who declined the invoice. The supplier is asked to liaise with the latter to resolve the dispute. Once the dispute is resolved, the invoice will be approved within the work flow system and scheduled for payment within one week.

In some cases, invoice approval is done by the finance shared services team by means of ‘three-way matching’ against purchase orders and system ‘goods received notes’ or by checking against timesheets and agreed hourly charge rates. Where there are discrepancies, these are advised to the relevant staff member, who will follow up as necessary. If, as a result, the invoice is disputed, the process described above will be followed.