How are you going to spend your capital funding allocation for estates remedial works?

CPC are pleased to announce plans to produce a brand-new procurement solution for members with estates improvement/refurbishment requirement. The Prime Minister announced in June 2020, that the Government will be fast tracking £200m of its £1.5billion FE college capital funding pot to make it available from September – a year earlier than planned. This announcement was made alongside a ten-year “rebuilding programme” for schools which includes £560 million being made available this year for refurbishment. CPC are establishing a Minor Works Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) in order to support members in receipt of such funding. Unlike traditional framework agreements, the DPS will offer members a much more flexible, efficient and responsive procurement route. The DPS will be fully compliant with EU procurement regulations.

Key benefits for members using the Minor Works DPS

• Your local contractor can apply to be on the DPS at any time. Allowing you to get quotations for the work from your local contractors and giving you access to other contractors that have passed a vetting process to compare quotations against
• CPC will do the necessary due diligence on your local contractor, e.g. financial stability checks, health and safety record and process checks, environmental management checks, quality management checks, reducing the risk of this not being done or saving your institution time in having to carry out this due diligence
• Encourages competition enabling you to demonstrate value for money
• All supplier applications to the DPS will be processed and evaluated within a maximum of 14 days
• The DPS has been broken down into a number of different categories to enable members to procure a wide array of specialist trades and works
• All further competitions will be undertaken using the Multiquote e-tendering platform to ensure all procurement processes are fully auditable

Key benefits for contractors being on a DPS 

• Contractors don't have to demonstrate suitability and capability every time they wish to compete for a public sector contract
• A DPS is more accessible for SMEs
• Award of individual contracts can be quicker than under some other procedures
• A DPS remains open to new contractors throughout the period of the agreement. This enables contractors who may not be able to meet the selection criteria at the time a DPS is first established to review their processes, finances and capabilities and apply for acceptance onto the DPS at a later stage
• A contractor who fails the exclusion or selection stage can reapply later if circumstances have changed (for example if the contractor has newly available skills or experience).
• A contractor may apply for as many suitable lots as they wish to
• Any contractor who meets the selection criteria must be admitted to the DPS

Should you have an estates improvement project planned, we encourage you to signpost the DPS opportunity to your trusted construction/works partners to enable them to apply for inclusion on the DPS.

The DPS has been published on the Multiquote e-tendering portal for any contractors wishing to apply. The DPS will be available to CPC members and the wider public sector from late October 2020.

We look forward to providing more updates on the progress of the DPS in the coming weeks and months. Please contact the DPS manager, Peter McMullan at [email protected] or 0161 974 0950 for further information.