Early supply chain involvement

Public works projects and programmes should contract for early supply chain involvement (ESI) to achieve the planned outcomes and value for money. Investing time in ESI can lead to more effective designs, reducing changes and potential cost increases downstream. This results in faster delivery when construction starts.

ESI extends the principle of early contractor involvement by formally engaging the tier 1 contractor alongside tier 2 and 3 sub-contractors and suppliers in the pre-construction phase to input into the design (including the use of standards for products and interfaces), costing, risk management and structuring of a project or programme.

Good ESI relies on strong leadership, project governance including strong commercial management and suitably qualified practitioners to ensure that proposals are clearly understood and limited to what is required to enable successful project delivery. Trust is key and it is important that a mutually beneficial, open and collaborative approach is adopted during the process in sharing ideas and innovative solutions. A transparent approach that clearly sets out all parties' intentions and ways of working should be adopted.

The procurement process, evaluation approach and contract should generally be structured to cover both the ESI and the construction phase. While it is possible to follow ESI with a further competitive procurement process, this can undermine the benefits of using ESI.