Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Accepted
Lacking accurate cost-benefit analysis and transparency for direct awards from procurement frameworks.
Conclusion
The NAO report identified the need for accurate analysis of costs and benefits to both inform decisions and provide potential suppliers enough information to price bids accurately.42 The GCF told us that it is fair to say that there is a gap in data about direct awards from frameworks, which will be plugged by the transparency regulations under the new Procurement Act; that will allow government to see where those are and to close them down. The GCF told us it did not see any evidence of favouritism in contract awards.43 The GCF said that it is trying to find the “sweet spot” between having too many bidders for something, in which case all but one of them will have wasted bid costs, eventually inflating the cost to the public purse; and too few, which it said was also the wrong answer.44
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and commits to reviewing current framework guidance with stakeholders, determining if a separate playbook is needed, and ensuring clear central guidance for framework establishment and management, including data collection, 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.