New Foundations: a fresh start for procurement to help the construction industry build back better

The government and industry must work together to spur an improvement in construction buying habits if the industry is to successfully underpin the country’s long-term net zero and levelling-up ambitions.

The CBI’s paper New Foundations, published this week, looks at how the construction landscape has been altered by the pandemic, new political priorities, and policy developments – most notably the launch of the government’s Construction Playbook.

It argues that these all play into the need to address issues with procurement which are well-known and longstanding, and which build on the CBI’s 2020 report Fine Margins.

New Foundations highlights the importance of procurement and contracting in creating a more stable and secure operating environment for an industry with a key role to play in bringing ‘build back better’ aspirations to life.

Building on the spirit of collaboration shown throughout COVID-19, the report contains 17 recommendations for action which hope to see the adoption of the Construction Playbook accelerated across both the public and private sector. These include:

• Enhancing the Cabinet Office’s ability to identify and act on businesses’ reports of poor procurement practices.
• Using the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review to ensure rapid rollout of public sector construction training materials and delivery.
• Driving forward exemplar works under Project Speed to demonstrate how Playbook guidance can shape successful end-to-end construction projects.
• Requiring public sector contracting authorities to commit to working alongside suppliers to manage risks more equitably.
• Establishing a client leadership group to support the adoption of Playbook behaviours throughout the private sector.
• Setting out a Playbook delivery plan at local authority level, including guidance on how rules should dovetail with devolved procurement policies.

Read the full list of recommendations.

What are the CBI’s next steps?

Looking ahead the CBI will continue to work with the Cabinet Office and members to ensure further progress is made on improving commercial behaviours in UK construction. This will include gathering feedback on how the Construction Playbook is being implemented across a wide range of projects and contracts. 

If you would like to discuss the paper of our work on construction more generally, please contact Liz Crowhurst.