The Cabinet Office has published the independent review of public sector frameworks undertaken by Professor David Mosey, which sets out 24 recommendations for a new ‘Gold Standard’ designed to ‘improve the outcomes delivered by framework strategies procurement, contracting and management and to avoid the pitfalls of bureaucratic and inconsistent practices’. By helping clients and suppliers to create and implement Gold Standard action plans under current frameworks, it is hoped that Government and industry can achieve the objectives of the Construction Playbook to deliver projects ‘faster, better and greener’.

Recommendation 20 promotes the use of the Common Assessment Standard to ‘reduce procurement costs by consistent and proportionate assessment of [suppliers’] economic and financial standing’. The Common Assessment Standard is being rolled out across the industry with a growing list of organisations using it for their PQ requirements, and members of the supply chain can obtain certification from any one of three Recognised Assessment Bodies ‐ Achilles, CHAS or Constructionline.

Webinar: Common Assessment Standard

On 10 February, FIS will be hosting a webinar looking at the benefits and adoption of the Common Assessment Standard.

The construction supply chain has voiced concerns about proliferation of tender management systems and the inefficiency created by producing information for the same purpose in different forms and paying multiple organisations to manage this information. CAS was introduced in 2019 to address these concerns and it is now starting to gain traction.

Attendees will get an update on how the Standard is being adopted by main contractors, insights into how you can start to benefit from the efficiencies that the CAS provides.