The construction industry is a complex one, with projects often requiring a wide range of skills from a specialised workforce. While open tenders can offer a good approach, it is often more costly, resource heavy, and more time consuming which exposes projects to more risk and delays.
Many organisations are now using construction frameworks as a compliant route to market that poses less risk and allows them to fulfill project requirements.
Jump to:
· What is a construction professional services framework
· Challenges of traditional procurement in construction projects
· Key benefits of using a framework for construction procurement
· How Procurement Hub can help
What a construction professional services framework is
A construction professional services framework allows public sector organisations to compliantly procure construction projects through a pre approved agreement. Procurement Hub has already nationally tendered the framework, done all the due diligence checks and agreed rates for Overheads and Profit (OH&P) and established people costs. This pre-negotiation significantly reduces the administrative burden and accelerates the procurement timeline. The framework is essentially a two stage tender, with the first stage already completed by Procurement Hub handling the initial tendering process, ensuring compliance with procurement regulations and identifying suitable suppliers.
In the second stage, all that is left is for specific project costs to be tendered in an open book manner, demonstrated to the customer and Project Manager Quantity Surveyor (PMQS) with risk sums apportioned and agreed.
Challenges of traditional procurement in construction projects
Traditional procurement can come with difficulties that could cause delays, incur extra costs and produce suboptimal outcomes. Often this is due to a lengthy procurement process of preparing and evaluating bids. From the initial stages of tender preparation to the final evaluation of bids, traditional procurement can become time consuming and costly for the suppliers and contractors as well as the procuring organisation.
Another challenge can come from identifying and securing a supplier or contractor who is qualified, reliable and experienced enough to consistently produce a high quality service and deliverables. This often relies on a rigorous due diligence process, which can be resource intensive and time consuming. It can be a complex task, requiring careful monitoring and oversight and prove especially difficult in construction projects which can take place over extended period of time.
This prolonged timeline not only delays project start dates but also requires a lot of administrative resource which comes at a cost.
These factors, combined with potential risks associated with unforeseen circumstances and changes in market conditions, can significantly impact the overall success of construction projects.
Key benefits of using a framework for construction procurement
By utilising a framework, public sector organisations can avoid the lengthy and complex traditional procurement process.
Frameworks offer stability and transparency, providing a clear and consistent procurement process for all parties involved. Pre established relationships with suppliers can facilitate better communication throughout the project lifecycle.
Our, Major Projects Framework 2 (MPF2) ensures:
· Financially robust: regularly audit the financial standing of our MPF2 partners, Robertson, Willmott Dixon and Farrans against process compliance and KPI performance to ensure that the framework conditions are adhered to, and our members are not at risk.
· Contract flexibility: allowing members to choose from any form of contract type to be used, including NEC and JCT and provides simple templates for commissioning each stage. Social Value KPI’s are chosen with and for the customer and are embedded in the contract.
· Early engagement: engage with our MPF2 partners in the early stages without the need for a project commitment.
· Free Feasibility: feasibility stage project report to confirm the project's key details prior to the decision making of whether or not to progress the project with them.
Our gold standard verified, MPF2 embodies government good practice guidelines by adhering to rigorous industry standards, ensuring the highest quality of construction services.
MPF2, provides a streamlined, efficient procurement process that aligns with our members long term vision like Forestry England's £14.5M Tree Nursery Upgrade project delivered with a strong focus on sustainability, innovation, and local community benefits.
How Procurement Hub can help
Procurement Hub offers solutions developed specifically for the needs of public sector procurement. Being part of Places for People and as a contracting authority ourselves, we have a deep understanding of public sector procurement challenges.
By using procurement solutions from Procurement Hub, you can streamline your construction procurement process, reduce risks, and ensure access to the best possible talent for your projects.
Would you like to get started with your construction projects? Become a member and unlock the benefits of our construction professional services frameworks.