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Construction

OGC aims for government clients to be regarded as 'clients of choice' by the construction industry, in so doing delivering more reliably sustainable construction projects at best through life value for money. OGC works with public sector construction clients and industry to facilitate continuous improvement in the planning of public sector construction procurements.  OGC also continues to embed best practice principles and to measure and report performance improvements in the delivery of construction projects. In its 2005 report Improving Public services through better construction, the NAO estimated that substantial value gains are achievable through further embedding/adoption of improved procurement practices as promoted by OGC's Achieving Excellence in Construction initiative. Similarly, market capacity analysis and collaborative forward planning and implementation of the industry-wide agreed Fair Payment principles could generate substantial savings.  Construction procurement will also have a key role to play in helping government to achieve its goals in sustainability and climate change.

Achieving Excellence in Construction...

£800 million value-for-money savings

Achieving Excellence

Public Sector Construction Clients' Forum

The Public Sector Construction Clients' Forum (PSCCF) was established in December 2005:

It leads improvements in the whole life value for money procurement of sustainable built environment in the public sector by: 

- improving co-operation and communication with the construction industry;
- encouraging greater adoption of the principles of the Achieving Excellence in Construction Initiative;
- championing design excellence and sustainability.

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Best Practice Guidance

Common Minimum Standards (CMS) for the procurement of built environments in the public sector

The CMS are the standards to which built environments procured by government departments need to comply with. CMS are mandatory on central government departments in England.   

The CMS identify those policies/initiatives essential to whole-life value for money, while delivering safe, well designed, sustainable and well managed projects.

Fair Payment

In 2007 the PSCCF achieved cross-industry agreement on best Fair Payment practice. This agreement is enshrined in The Fair Payment Guide, which includes the principles of Fair Payment, a model Charter and guidance on Project Bank Accounts. The Charter commits clients, lead contractors and supply chains to greater transparency, no unfair withholding of retentions, more efficient payment procedures and payment periods not exceeding 30 days.

Central government departments have committed to implement the principles of Fair Payment on all their new projects from the 1st January 2008.

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Achieving Excellence in Construction

The Achieving Excellence in Construction (AEC) initiative was the government's response to the construction industry's Rethinking Construction/Accelerating Change improvement initiative.

AEC is the government's construction client improvement programme. It has delivered quantifiable improvements in project delivery and resulting value gains.

Read on to find out more and to access the Achieving Excellence Guides and links to other OGC construction guidance and case studies.

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The Public Sector Construction Database and the Econometric Model

The PSCD was developed to collect data on future public sector construction programmes and projects.   It also allows AEC Strategic Target project performance data to be submitted by Departments. 

A  publicly accessible econometric Model has been developed, designed to be of benefit both centrally and at departmental level to inform funding and investment decisions and to inform the decision making process of PSCCF in its market analysis role.

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