黑洞社区

The government has yet again put back the procurement timetable for a repeatedly-delayed 拢750m public sector framework for consultants.

In an email to bidding consultants yesterday, the government鈥檚 private sector procurement partner UK SBS said it had pushed back the scheduled contract award date for the Project Management and Full Design Team Services framework to the week commencing 23 June, two months later than its previous estimate of April.

This means the framework will go live over a year later than the government originally intended.

The framework was originally meant to go live when the previous iteration expired on 16 June 2013, but has been repeatedly delayed due to a prolonged consultation period, alterations to the framework requirements and over 400 tender clarifications in the weeks leading up to bids being submitted last month.

In the email to bidders yesterday, seen by 黑洞社区, UK SBS said the latest delay was 鈥渢o take into account the internal and external evaluator input required to ensure a robust evaluation process.鈥�

The four-year framework covers a raft of disciplines - including project management, architecture and engineering - and a wide array of public sector clients.

It will be reviewed after two years, with the option to extend it for a further two years on a year by year basis.

Reacting to the latest delay, one bidding consultant told 黑洞社区: 鈥淚t鈥檚 an incredible delay for what could be just a two-year framework.鈥�

Bidders raised fears last month that the framework could be open to legal challenge due to a late extension and the volume of clarifications.

One bidding consultant said he suspected this could be a factor behind the latest delay: 鈥淚 suspect they鈥檙e quite nervous about potential [legal] challenge and want to cross all the 鈥榯鈥檚 and dot all the 鈥榠鈥檚.鈥�

The Cabinet Office has been contacted for comment.