The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has asked its prime contractors to notify it when awarding work to their supply chain, the Government’s Chief Commercial Officer told our Construction Frameworks Conference.

In the opening keynote speech at the event, held in London last month, Gareth Rhys Williams said the collapse of Carillion has led to ‘slight changes’ in how its prime contractors deal with their sub-contractors, which also includes prime contractors carrying out £5m plus projects being asked to publish their requirements of sub-contractors on the CSS website.

‘’Shedding a light on procurement practices can only be positive,’’ said Williams, adding that while the Carillion collapse had been a ‘terrible event’ with a ‘huge impact on jobs and sub-contractors’, it has not led to any failures in public service delivery.

Williams, who is also a Non-Executive Director of the CSS, stressed in his presentation that the Government is committed to the viability of the supply chain saying: ‘’We cannot deliver without our vendor base. There is no structured intent amongst the Government to make long term contractors unprofitable. We need a viable vendor base who are interested in the work we must offer and make a fair return. We need a healthy and competitive market.’’