Property consultants, building designers and procurement professionals came together last month to discuss procurement for public sector construction projects.
Hosted and facilitated by Willmott Dixon Interiors, the roundtable events in London and West Midlands centred around changes to the Procurement Act 2023 and featured John Simons, Chair of the National Association Construction Frameworks and Procurement Director of SCAPE, as a guest speaker.
The Procurement Act 2023
- sets out to ‘shake up’ current procurement processes
- to drive greater transparency across the public sector
- received Royal Ascent in October 2023 and is expected to “go live” in October 2024.
- Emphasis moved away from lowest cost/most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) most advantageous tender (MAT) and puts more emphasis on sustainability, environmental considerations and social value, for example.
The general consensus from the roundtable was that the Act is a positive step towards creating a more open tendering process. However, some ambiguity remains around the full implications, and questions were raised over what resources local councils and authorities have to enable effective implementation.
Joshua Armstrong, Regional Head of Framework Management at Willmott Dixon Interiors said: “The incoming changes will be positive in terms of ensuring fairer tendering and more effective use of public funding, however they are likely to increase pressures on public sector bodies. While the central government has capacity and skills in house, many councils, regional authorities and blue light organisations are unlikely to have teams dedicated to construction procurement. Therefore, it’s important to have appropriate solutions in place.”
Frameworks: tried, tested, compliant
Roundtable attendees agreed that a procurement framework could save time and resources during what could be a lengthy tender process, while ensuring the approach is tried, tested and compliant.
The transitional arrangements, published recently, means that existing frameworks or those authorities who have issued a Contract Notice before October 2024 will be subject to the terms of the current 2015 Regulations. Once live, all new frameworks will need to be procured and compliant with the new 2023 Act.
“Despite having limited internal resources and lean teams, public sector organisations can’t ignore this. The changes are coming and they will have an impact. In order to overcome challenges, opting for a framework enables an agreement to be put in place without running lengthy full tendering exercises. A framework provides certainty at a time of relative uncertainty.”
To find out more about procurement frameworks, please visit:
www.willmottdixoninteriors.co.uk/frameworks/