By Luke Hurd, Chief Operating Officer
The Procurement Act 2023 (PA23) fundamentally changes procurement from being a predominately cost driven process under the old principle of Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) to one that has a much broader evaluation, and therefore greater focus on quality, performance, transparency, social value and competency under the UK centric principle of Most Advantageous Tender (MAT).
In practice this puts an obligation on Contracting Authorities (CAs) to engage openly with the market when procuring new works and/or services, using the procurement process to demonstrate that they are delivering safer, more compliant and better documented projects as well as achieving value for money and increased public benefit throughout the life of a contract.
For the Housing Sector, this aligns well with the enhanced responsibilities and safety duties under the Building Safety Act (BSA) as it raises the bar in awarding contracts to suppliers who can demonstrate quality of service and safety of delivery with robust performance management and reporting over price alone.
PA23 provides a vehicle for CAs to cement the accountabilities of the BSA into their procurement strategies at an early stage, ensuring they are vetting potential suppliers for both commercial and safety competence. The procurement process, therefore, becomes a fundamental part of the journey and should be integrated into the overall project safety compliance and reporting requirements of the BSA.
For framework providers, managing strategic BSA aligned frameworks, this puts greater emphasis on them to ensure their frameworks are designed to test the supply markets on their competence, safety processes and reporting procedures, whilst being flexible enough for the framework suppliers to respond to the specific conditions of any call off projects. Framework providers then become a vital partner for CAs procuring delivery solutions through a framework, accepting a duty to support the CA in demonstrating compliance with the requirements of the BSA for every call off contract awarded.
One-size fits all frameworks, where greater emphasis was given to the commercial schedules, are no longer an option for CAs; many current frameworks, procured prior to PA2023, may no longer be fit for purpose when appraised by CAs through the lens of the BSA. As well as being a compliant route to market, framework providers should be seen as a strategic partner adding real value to a project through their evaluation, documentation and transparent reporting of supplier safety compliance. So, when CAs are selecting their strategic framework partner, they should ensure that their own responsibilities under the BSA are fully understood and can be properly addressed in any call off contract.
In short, does the framework partner have the technical competence that is needed to comply with the BSA, as well as the procurement expertise that meets all the requirements of PA2023?
