Hampshire County Council, Surrey County Council, Reading Borough Council and West Sussex County Council created a multi-client schools framework alliance with a total value of £119 million. The contractor partners Osborne, Miller and Mansell were jointly appointed through a mini-competition and formed a Cluster Delivery Team (CDT) which collaborated to share resources, information and supply chains. The team aimed to establish common designs, elements and components and, subsequently, common supply chains.
All contractors jointly engaged with existing and potential tier 2 and tier 3 subcontractor and supplier partners to identify the pipeline of opportunities available, allowing those subcontractors and suppliers to contribute to cost efficiencies and provide added value through early engagement. The team agreed efficiency savings of 7% and additional benefits that included:
■ Effective engagement of the tier 1-3 supply chains members by and through the CDT
■ Greater and more accurate market intelligence through sharing knowledge (cost trend data and avoiding supply chain overload)
■ High levels of stakeholder satisfaction across the programme
■ Delivering opportunities for skills training and new apprenticeships.