Press Releases

New guides will help government clients achieve excellence in their construction procurements

Ref: 18/03

A revised and upgraded suite of guides has been launched to help those responsible for the procurement of government construction projects become more effective clients of the industry.

The Achieving Excellence in Construction suite of guides produced by the Office of Government Commerce has drawn on lessons learnt over the past five years and reflects recognised best practice to support the delivery of improved value for money over the whole life of construction projects. The good practice the suite promotes has been endorsed by the National Audit Office and is available on the OGC website.

OGC's divisional director of property and construction best practice, Arnold Butler, said: "This revised suite of guides reflects all the recent progress in construction procurement and builds on departments' experience to date of implementing the Achieving Excellence in Construction principles."

Notes to editors

The Achieving Excellence in Construction initiative was launched in 1999 as a three-year strategy to improve the performance of central government as a client of the construction industry. In February this year the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Paul Boateng, launched the Achieving Excellence future strategy and two strategic targets for the further improvement of construction procurement by government to ensure the delivery of best whole-life value. A specific action for OGC was to review and update its construction procurement guidance to reflect emerging best practice.

The new guidance aligns with the OGC Gateway process and takes account of the emerging lessons learned from Gateway reviews. It forms a key component of OGC's Successful Delivery Toolkit for project managers.

The Achieving Excellence in Construction Procurement guides are available on the OGC website at /sdtoolkit/reference/achieving/achievin.html and in printed format from the Service Desk, tel 0845 000 4999, email 4999@ogc.gsi.gov.uk

The guidance suite comprises:

• Two high-level guides - a Manager's Checklist of key questions and the Construction Pocketbook overview of procurement for construction projects.
• Three core guides - AE1: Initiative Into Action; AE2: Project Organisation; and AE3: Project Procurement Lifecycle.
• Eight supporting guides - AE4: Risk and Value Management; AE5: The Integrated Project Team; AE6: Procurement and Contract Strategies; AE7: Whole Life Costing; AE8: Improving Performance; AE9: Design Quality (under development); AE10: Health and Safety (to be developed shortly); and AE11: Sustainability (to be developed shortly).

The Office of Government Commerce is an office of HM Treasury which works with central civil Government as a catalyst to achieve best value for money in commercial activities. OGC aims to provide guidance and expertise to support successful delivery of procurement-based projects and other commercial activities; develop the Government market to make it more efficient and attractive to suppliers and customers; and develop a clear and supportive framework for best-in-class procurement activity, while making a leading contribution to Government modernisation.