Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Accepted
Government's increasing reliance on framework agreements doesn't always guarantee best competition.
Conclusion
Framework agreements involve an initial competition for suppliers to gain access to the framework, followed by a shortened process for a department to select and appoint a supplier from the framework for a specific contract.36 Government use of frameworks for large contracts increased from 20% of contracts by value in 2018–19 to 68% in 2021–22.37 Frameworks are designed for procuring common goods and services to allow departments to realise benefits from economies of scale, but they are not always the way to achieve the best competition.38
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and commits to reviewing current framework guidance, determining whether a separate framework playbook is required, and ensuring clear central guidance, including the collection of performance data, by Autumn 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Target Implementation date: Autumn 2024 3.2 Framework agreements are a means which ensure that effective procurements can be undertaken quickly and efficiently from capable suppliers, by multiple public sector organisations, in categories where there are common requirements and where it is important to avoid unnecessary duplication and poor practices. 3.3 The Cabinet Office has already done much to ensure value is maximised when using frameworks. For example, in 2021 David Mosey at King’s College was asked by the Cabinet Office to produce Constructing the Gold Standard: An Independent Review of Public Sector Construction Frameworks. This outlines how to apply the Construction Playbook principles to construction frameworks and is an integrated and collaborative approach to framework procurement, contracting and management. In November 2023, King’s College and Constructing Excellence launched a verification scheme for assessing consistency with ‘Constructing the Gold Standard’. This is an objective system for recognising and supporting those framework providers and clients who adopt Gold Standard frameworks, framework contracts and action plans. 3.4 The Cabinet Office is working together with the Crown Commercial Service and other stakeholders to review current framework guidance and the standards that framework providers should meet, to ensure the framework agreements they put in place operate effectively in line with government guidance, policy and regulation. 3.5 Following the review, the Cabinet Office will determine whether a separate framework playbook is required or whether it will be more effective to collate, signpost and augment existing guidance, taking into account the need for different approaches in different categories of goods or services; as well as the opportunities presented by the new public procurement regulations to establish new types of framework agreement. 3.6 Together with the Crown Commercial Service, the Cabinet Office will then ensure that there is clear and authoritative central guidance on the effective establishment and management of frameworks, including the collection of data on the framework’s performance.