Collaborative construction procurement needs to be clearly connected to the underlying commercial needs and issues that arise on any project, and it will not succeed if it depends on vague or idealistic concepts. This guidance breaks down collaborative procurement into four specific proposals that should be adopted on any in-scope project:

■ Selection by value that avoids a race to the bottom

■ Early supply chain involvement that improves safety and reduces risks

■ Collaborative relationships that improve commitments and involve residents

■ A golden thread of information that integrates design, construction and operation.

Case studies provide a wealth of evidence as to how collaborative procurement can improve project outcomes. Yet the construction industry and its clients remain cautious and collaborative practices have not become the norm. Instead, many clients, consultants and contractors continue to use procurement models and contracts that endanger building safety by:

■ Gambling on lowest price bids without joint review of detailed costs

■ Focusing primarily on transferring risk down the supply chain and preparing the ground for potential claims and disputes.

This guidance shows how collaborative procurement avoids these risks by preserving reasonable legal and commercial protections while using early planning, clear roles, full consultation and accurate information to reduce the potential for failures, errors, misunderstandings and disputes.

Effective collaboration among the individuals engaged on a project or programme of work is only made possible by integrating the differing needs and commercial priorities of the organisations who employ them. A shared pool of relevant knowledge is imperative, and the legal and commercial tests of collaborative construction procurement should consider:

■ Firstly, how team members build up shared knowledge at a time when it can be most effectively used to improve project outcomes

■ Secondly, how team members use that shared knowledge to improve project outcomes rather than to seek benefits at someone else's expense.

There is no universal business morality that creates collaborative norms of behaviour or that builds an automatic basis for trust or good faith. To demonstrate competence and to translate goodwill into actions, team members need a clear and balanced understanding of what a collaborative culture means in practical terms and how they are expected to create and sustain it. So that team members can anticipate and avoid misunderstandings or breakdowns in good working relationships, they need to establish procurement processes and contracts that reflect and support their collaborative practices.

The procurement and contracting policies expressed in the government's 2020 Construction Playbook recognise that 'setting the right behaviours and practices throughout the design, construction, occupation and maintenance stages, and the handoffs between these stages, is crucial to ensuring building safety'. although the Construction Playbook focuses primarily on procurement by public sector clients, it reflects extensive private sector consultation and is supported by a 'Compact with Industry' whose signatories include private sector organisations such as the British Property Federation.

The Construction Playbook's Compact with Industry emphasises the need to 'work more collaboratively at all levels of the supply chain', and 'to place more focus on social value, sustainability and asset performance'. It highlights the opportunities for public sector clients and suppliers 'to create long-term relationships that will underpin our investments in people, technology and capacity'.

As regards the use of collaborative contracts, the Playbook states that:

■ 'One of the most effective ways to deliver outcomes is to create contracting environments that promote collaboration and reduce waste'

■ 'Contracts should create positive relationships and processes designed to integrate and align multiple parties' commercial objectives and incentives.'

In the procurement process leading to a collaborative contract, team members should be selected according to their competence and the value they bring to a project. They should be paid promptly, earn a fair profit and be given the earliest opportunities to influence optimum approaches to safety and quality as well as other aspects of efficiency, risk management and value for money. Team members will be motivated to concentrate their efforts on the best interests of the project, and not on tactics that prepare the ground for later claims, if they understand how collaborative relationships and processes will help them to:

■ Avoid losses

■ Minimise wasted cost, time and resources

■ Enhance their reputations

■ Avoid disputes.

Although many construction teams work hard to create and maintain high collaborative standards, a consistent collaborative approach now needs to be adopted on all projects relating to buildings in-scope in order to improve industry-wide culture, competence and performance. Dutyholders are therefore encouraged to implement the collaborative processes, relationships and systems recommended in this guidance in order to achieve the improvements in project strategy, procurement, contracting and management that are necessary to prioritise residents and ensure their safety.

Section 3 of this guidance sets out a checklist of recommended procurement and contracting questions that dutyholders should consider in advance of each 'gateway' that is expected to form part of the new building safety regime.

The specific practices that are necessary to achieve successful collaborative design and construction procurement are then listed as Key Points in Section 4 which provide a summary of the remaining sections of this guidance.

Subsequent sections explain collaborative procurement and contracting practices in more detail, illustrating:

■ How selection by value avoids a race to the bottom (Section 5)

■ How early supply chain involvement improves safety and reduces risks (Section 6)

■ How collaboration improves commitments and involves residents (Section 7)

■ How a digital golden thread of information integrates design, construction and operation (Section 8).

■ What systems sustain and enhance a collaborative culture (Section 9)

■ How strategic collaboration can embed improved safety (Section 10).

Section 11 illustrates how, in addition to improved safety and quality, collaborative procurement enables public and private sector clients and their teams to achieve other improvements in economic, social and environmental value.

Section 12 outlines team-building techniques through which the collaborative culture of in-scope building projects can be cultivated. It also shows how collaborative clients and teams can benefit from new sources of advice and support, and how dutyholders can use lessons learned from other industries.

When using this guidance, please note at the end of each section the sources and weblinks that are provided for more details in relation to:

■ The sources quoted

■ The case studies illustrating specific collaborative practices.