The Construction Playbook states that 'A successful framework contract should be based around principles that align objectives, success measures, targets and incentives so as to enable joint work on improving value and reducing risks', and that 'This should then be combined with transparent performance measurement and work allocation procedures' (p.42).
A successful framework contract describes the processes and relationships through which clients and suppliers develop, share and apply information, and makes clear the ways in which that information improves the design, construction and operation of projects and programmes of work. Knowledge is power, and the tests of a successful framework include:
■ Firstly, whether the framework provider, clients, manager and suppliers build up shared knowledge at the times when it can best be used to improve framework and project outcomes
■ Secondly, whether the framework provider, clients, manager and suppliers actually use that shared knowledge to improve framework and project outcomes rather than for their individual benefit.
To pass the first test requires commitment to integrated and transparent systems, and to pass the second test requires commitment to integrated commercial interests. A Gold Standard framework contract creates agreed systems and integrates commercial interests so that the implementation of Construction Playbook policies is based on clear commitments rather than optional guidance. This is an area where some framework providers and clients need to make important changes because, in many of the framework documents reviewed, the good practice guidance for clients and suppliers appears to be optional because it is detached from the rights and obligations set out in the framework contract.
Framework providers may argue that personal leadership and consultation are the best ways to ensure the adoption of their guidance, and that informal collaborative techniques can nudge clients and suppliers towards improved framework practices. These arguments are fair insofar as most of us react better to human engagement than to cold legal obligations, but the evidence from Trial Projects and other case studies shows how the right framework contract joins up the dots among good framework practices and accelerates the progress of transformational efforts by giving them clearer shape and direction.