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Jane Hutt, Minister for Finance and Leader of the House for the Welsh Assembly, has revealed the lessons learned from two major framework awards.
The two frameworks to deliver the 21st Century Schools Programme caused concern throughout the construction industry and the Welsh Assembly has looked into each of them to examine how framework awards could be improved in future.
The Minister Tset out the following key lessons learned
- Effective planning of procurement strategies is critical to ensuring that indigenous contractors can access framework agreement opportunities;
- The Supplier Qualification Information Database (SQuID) approach has improved the pre-qualification process for contractors;
- Framework agreements must support delivery of Community Benefits policy; and
- Guidance should be delivered to help encourage public bodies to break down requirements into small ‘lots’.
The supplier development lessons learned were:
- SMEs should be supported and encouraged to consider collaborating in consortia arrangements;
- Develop SMEs to help them compete for opportunities outside of their traditional geographical location; and
- Support contractors to attain relevant quality accreditations which will help secure business further afield.
The two frameworks in question were let by Powys County Council (as a collaboration between Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Powys County Council) and Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council (as a collaboration between ten Local Authorities in South East Wales, known as the SEWSCAP framework).
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