Frameworks and enterprise contracting
A Gold Standard framework alliance contract describes the incremental processes by which the framework provider, clients, manager and suppliers work together, in parallel with and separate from the award of project contracts and the performance of their project contract obligations, to build up the additional information they need for collaborative value improvement and risk management. These incremental contractual processes are known as 'enterprise contracting' and they enable contracting parties to obtain and approve new information while, wherever possible, avoiding negotiation.
A Gold Standard framework alliance contract provides enterprise contracting systems and timescales for the framework provider, clients, manager and suppliers to undertake shared activities that include:
■ Integration of digital information management systems
■ Strategic ESI through Supply Chain Collaboration
■ Joint risk management
■ Collaborative decision-making.
Enterprise contracting systems and timescales are set out in a multi-party framework alliance contract, as described in Section 4 and Annex 4, where all parties are aware of each other's roles and know that their respective contract terms are consistent. A framework alliance contract can motivate the mutual trust necessary for successful joint working.
A Gold Standard framework alliance contract is a toolkit, a working document through which to understand and integrate the needs and expectations of clients and suppliers. It provides the foundations for trust based on the agreed activities that comprise strategic collaboration, which in turn help to create and sustain a collaborative contractual environment for framework projects and programmes of work.
A combination of Gold Standard framework alliance contracts can create a contractual 'eco-system' through which framework providers, clients, managers, suppliers and supply chain members operate:
■ Interconnected and consistent framework contracts governing strategic long-term relationships with a full range of tier 1 suppliers
■ Interfaces between call-off contracts under each framework
■ Framework sub-alliances awarded by clients for the delivery of framework programmes of work
■ Supply chain framework alliances between tier 1 suppliers and tier 2 and 3 supply chain members at framework, project and programme level
■ Integrated information management contracts between clients, managers, suppliers and supply chain members at framework, project and programme level.
|
Crown Commercial Service reports how their use of Strategic sub-alliancing formalises an agreement at call-off stage for all parties to the sub -alliance to work towards the same objectives, targets, success measures and incentives with the additional client, through a collaborative working and delivery approach. Strategic delivery models will provide sub- alliance agreements as follows: ■ Programme of Works (Single Client, Multiple Contracts, one or more Contractors) ■ Supply Chain (incorporating Tier 2 and lower suppliers) ■ Multi - Client Purchasing Consortium (Multiple Clients, Multiple Contracts, one or more Contractors) ■ BIM Alliance ■ Project Whole Life Approach (for example, an alliance of Client, Contractor Designers, FM Providers)'. |
As regards the project contracts that are awarded to suppliers and supply chain members, a Gold Standard framework alliance contract needs to be suitable for use in conjunction with:
■ Any 'Standard construction contracts with appropriate options' chosen from the JCT 2016, NEC3, NEC4 and PPC2000/TAC-1 suites
■ Any bespoke call-off contract 'where the project or programme justifies a bespoke approach' (p.43).
|
Recommendation 17: Integrate the mutual commitments of framework providers, clients, managers and suppliers through the terms of a Gold Standard framework alliance contract To integrate the mutual commitments of framework providers, clients, managers and suppliers, this review recommends that effective framework contracts incorporate: ■ An outcome-based strategic brief that drives economic, social and environmental value with strategic supplier proposals for delivering that brief ■ Multi-party relationships that align objectives, success measures, targets and incentives with commitments to joint work on improving value and reducing risk ■ Enterprise contract systems and a timetable of strategic actions that improve information, integration, value and outcomes, for example using MMC, digital technologies, ESI and Supply Chain Collaboration ■ Transparent costing, call-off, performance measurement and incentives that provide a fair return for suppliers and drive value rather than a race to the bottom ■ Framework management systems that support collaboration and dispute avoidance. |
Further details are set out in Annex 4 and specific actions include:
Framework strategy
■ Consider and establish:
■ how the proposed framework contract will implement Construction Playbook policies in ways that are consistent with the components of the Gold Standard
■ how the framework contract can use alliancing arrangements to align commercial objectives, improve intended outcomes and drive greater value for money
■ how the framework contract and project contracts can promote collaboration and reduce waste, and how they can create positive relationships and processes designed to integrate and align multiple parties' commercial objectives and incentives
■ the benefits of using a standard form framework alliance contract and standard form project contracts with appropriate options
■ whether the proposed framework success measures and targets are relevant and proportionate to the size and complexity of the framework programme and projects
■ how Project Outcome Profiles can be used to set and measure the expected outcomes from framework projects.
Framework procurement
■ Evaluate supplier proposals in response to the clients' commitments to:
■ a framework contract designed to implement Construction Playbook policies in ways that are consistent with the components of the Gold Standard
■ alliancing arrangements designed to align commercial objectives, improve intended outcomes and drive greater value for money
■ a framework contract and project contracts that promote collaboration and reduce waste, and that create positive relationships and processes designed to integrate and align multiple parties' commercial objectives and incentives
■ a standard form framework alliance contract and standard form project contracts with appropriate options, or an explanation of why the framework programme or projects justify a bespoke approach
■ framework success measures and targets that are relevant and proportionate to the size and complexity of the framework programme and framework projects
■ the use of Project Outcome Profiles to set and measure expected outcomes from framework projects.
Framework contract
■ State:
■ how the framework contract structure and provisions implement Construction Playbook policies in ways that are consistent with the components of the Gold Standard
■ how the framework contract structure and provisions align commercial objectives, improve intended outcomes and drive greater value for money
■ how the framework contract structure and provisions create relationships, roles and processes that promote collaboration and reduce waste, and how they create positive relationships and processes designed to integrate and align multiple parties' commercial objectives and incentives
■ success measures and targets that are relevant and proportionate to the size and complexity of the framework programme and framework projects
■ how Project Outcome Profiles will set and measure expected outcomes from framework projects.
