The government is strongly supportive of the use of frameworks for procuring construction contracts but says not all of them are delivering their aims.
The Cabinet Office has appointed David Mosey, a law professor at King鈥檚 College London, to lead a review of public sector frameworks. He is the director of the Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution at the Dickson Poon School of Law.
He has been asked to come up with recommendations for:
- 听听听 the components of a 鈥榞old standard鈥� against which new proposed frameworks and framework contracts can be measured
- 聽聽 聽standard contract terms that support the new gold standard
- 听听听 training packages to enable adoption of the new gold standard.
The idea is to promote those features of frameworks that embody the policies set out in the government鈥檚 recently published .
The Construction Playbook talks about 鈥楨ffective Contracting鈥�, designed to ensure that contracts are structured to support an exchange of data, collaboration, improve value and manage risk with clear expectations for continuous improvement and consistent with the principles contained within the Construction Playbook.
The Cabinet Office said that commercial frameworks 鈥渉ad been proven to provide a powerful tool for strategic planning, integrated teams, continuous improvement and the delivery of better, safer, faster and greener project outcomes鈥�.
However, across the public and private sectors, there are a wide variety of frameworks and a lack of clear guidance as to best practice. 鈥淎s a result, the potential of frameworks is not always well expressed or well understood and they are not always successful in delivering their aims,鈥� it said.
The review has been welcomed by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA), whose director of external affairs, Marie-Claude Hemming, said: 鈥淚t is nearly a decade since the UK Government received a cross-industry recommendation to establish a 鈥榗learing house鈥� to avoid unfair and overlapping frameworks.
鈥淲e recognise that while commercial frameworks are a powerful tool to implement strategic planning and the delivery of optimal project outcomes, their proliferation in recent years has led to a fragmented and sometimes contradictory system that imposes burdens on businesses.
鈥淧rofessor Mosey鈥檚 review should focus on identifying best practice when it comes to frameworks, and we look forward to engaging with his work with the goal of securing value for money for the client across infrastructure procurement in the UK.
鈥淐ECA鈥檚 own research has highlighted a number of areas in which frameworks should be reformed, and we hope this work will be taken into consideration by the review. Establishing what the 鈥榞old standard鈥� is for frameworks and implementing this model will ultimately lead to better outcomes for the UK taxpayer, the economy, and for our members, who at the current time are hamstrung by a frameworks system that is not fit for purpose.鈥�
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