RIBA report finds cost of bidding for public sector work represents up to 40% of the total earnings derived from it

state of play architects

Architects鈥� spending on bidding for public sector work represents up to 40% of the total earnings derived from it, a new RIBA survey suggests.

The 360-firm survey, part of a new report from the RIBA this week calling for radical reform of the procurement system, found that OJEU bidding costs for practices represent 29% of earnings derived on average, rising to 40% for larger firms with more than 30 employees.

It also estimates that architects as a whole spend 拢40m a year on such bidding costs.

The RIBA鈥檚 report, launched today, calls for a more efficient system to be developed which focuses on design outcomes and sustainability and allows SMEs to compete.

RIBA president Angela Brady said: 鈥淭he current public procurement system is frustrating and wasteful, too often resulting in buildings of a poor quality that cost too much money to build and run. We need an improved and streamlined procurement process that strives for better outcomes.鈥�

鈥淎t the moment turnover requirements typically applied to much public sector work above the OJEU thresholds mean that 85% of UK architectural practices are considered to be too small to be able to tender. This does not encourage a competitive market for design which means clients do not get the quality and innovation that they deserve.鈥�

Architect Rab Bennetts, a trustee of Design Council Cabe, said the survey 鈥渃onfirms what we all suspected.鈥�

鈥淭here is a shocking level of waste inherent in the OJEU procurement system, due to needless bureaucracy and inappropriate criteria,鈥� he said.

Director of the UK Contractors Group, Stephen Ratcliffe, said it 鈥渂roadly supported鈥� the RIBA鈥檚 proposals. 鈥淚t is good that all parts of the industry are giving government the same message,鈥� he said.

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