黑洞社区

Construction firms on public sector frameworks must share information with each other to end the 鈥済roundhog day鈥� of lost learning on projects, the author of a landmark review of government procurement has warned.

King鈥檚 College London law professor David Mosey said contractors must be convinced that it is in their 鈥渕utual interests鈥� to disclose information that they would normally 鈥渒eep to themselves鈥�.

He added that firms should also be expected to share their supply chains on public sector construction frameworks to reduce wasted time and money resulting from inefficient procurement practises.

Mosey鈥檚 review of public sector construction frameworks, published in December, has been approved by the government. A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the review鈥檚 24 recommendations require no legislation to implement and will come into force 鈥渞ight away鈥�.

Called 鈥楥onstructing the Gold Standard鈥�, it sets out a comprehensive overhaul of the way the public sector procures construction services which would make construction procurement the most progressive out of all UK sectors, according to Mosey.

In an interview with 黑洞社区, due to be published on Monday, Mosey said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to stop talking as if collaboration is something a little exotic or an option. It鈥檚 an absolute fundamental.鈥�

Asked why suppliers would want to exchange information with their rivals on a framework and lose their advantage on bids, he said: 鈥淏ecause, if we accept that premise, we鈥檙e not going to meet our net zero carbon targets, we鈥檙e not going to deliver social value, we鈥檙e not going to eliminate modern slavery, we鈥檙e not going to support modern methods of construction, we鈥檙e not going to do any of the things that we鈥檝e all promised to do.鈥�

He added that poorly designed frameworks had contributed to a fragmentation of the construction industry which has resulted in clients making repeated mistakes on successive projects which could be avoided by sharing past learnings.

But he said that frameworks with clear long-term objectives would incentivise firms to collaborate: 鈥淕ive [contractors] a framework with a pipeline of work and self-evidently transparent fair client systems, fair risk management systems, fair payment practises, then in return you can expect them to sign up to commercial improvement processes that gets us out of our groundhog day and a basis for sharing commercial information that gets us out of that fragmentation.鈥�

Mosey said that the review, which saw submissions from 120 clients, suppliers, advisers and framework providers, aimed to tackle 鈥渄istrust鈥� in the industry caused by 鈥渄odgy鈥� frameworks.

He added that if some clients and framework providers fail to adopt the changes recommended by his review, these frameworks would 鈥渂e exposed for what they are, and they will fall away through non-use鈥�.

The review recommends that public sector clients make more use of alliance contracts, where suppliers work together on a string of projects to reduce waste and improve social value and net zero outcomes.

ISG, Kier, Laing O鈥橰ourke and Wates were appointed in July on an alliance contract for the government鈥檚 拢1bn prison programme.

Under the deal, they are collaborating on the designs of four new UK prisons, which use standardised components, and how to build them.