黑洞社区

The government鈥檚 badly-delayed 拢2.9bn consultancy framework has finally launched.

The OJEU for the Project Management and Full Design Team Services framework - already over three years late - officially launched on Wednesday, with tender documents set to go online today. The framework is scheduled to go live next March.

One potential bidder told 黑洞社区: 鈥淏etter late than never鈥� the race begins!鈥�

The government鈥檚 buying arm, the Crown Commercial Service (CSS), issued a flurry of updates to its requirements in recent days, which had concerned bidders it was still unsure what exactly it wanted to procure.

Updates included a new requirement for bidders to have cyber security accreditation Cyber Essentials Plus.

Over the past three years the framework has been changed numerous times and passed between various public contracting bodies, before settling with the CCS.

In the meantime various public clients have been forced to use alternative frameworks or to tender work themselves. 黑洞社区 revealed last month that . Elsewhere, HS2 is believed to be using the NHS鈥檚 SPS framework for consultancy services.

In July . This separate tender came out last week.

The international consultancy framework - worth between 拢25m to 拢50m over four years - will be used by the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development. The deadline for submissions is 7 October.

The CCS has previously blamed delays on 鈥渢he complexity and size鈥� of the framework, making it 鈥渆ssential鈥� that it gets it right.