The Crown Commercial Service has started the second tender process for a place on its Management Consultancy Framework – which will see firms bid to be on the £2bn framework. The Management Consultancy Framework 2 (MCF2) will be open to businesses offering business consultancy services; procurement, supply chain, and commercial consultancy services; complex and transformation consultancy services, and strategic consultancy services.

The Government framework will be set up with the aim of helping and advising in the huge change agenda its departments and it attempts to modernise its structures, processes and tools, whilst also trying to alleviate acute pressures for policy makers and implementers. The framework will ensure external expertise is used to provide public sector bodies with swift, efficient and effective access to the right suppliers, who can then deliver value.

The Crown Commercial Service (CSS), who are set to speak at the Construction Frameworks Conference in May, has already announced the firms chosen for seven lots last year which featured 22 suppliers of finance consultancies and 20 providers of audit services. The next framework which has been announced will cover four more lots. The segments, collectively worth around £2.3bn in total. Those include:

Strategic Consultancy Services – Value £500m

The strategy consulting domain focuses on supporting private sector clients with the development of corporate, organisational or functional strategies and helping public sector organisations and institutions with economic policy. According to the CCS, services for this segment are, “likely to be assignments providing high-level strategic advice to permanent secretaries, ministers, and other senior civil [or] public servants.”

Complex & Transformation Consultancy Services – Value £750m

The lot will provide advisory and delivery services related to programmes or portfolios of work across government which are complex, multi-disciplinary, transformational, and large scale. Operational transformation programmes have rapidly become one of the largest service lines in the consulting industry, in large part due to the prevalence of new technologies, which enable private and public entities to streamline their organisations, and enable better efficiency and value for money in the process.

Business Consultancy Services – Value £800m

This is the broadest lot, which is understandable as it addresses the largest and section of the consulting industry. Often interchangeably referred to as management consulting, it covers between 50%-55% of the total consulting market. Business Consultancy is defined as “advisory and/or implementation services to the (senior) management of organisations with the aim of improving the effectiveness of their business strategy, organisational performance and operational processes.” Suppliers on this lot will be tasked with providing “a broad range of business consulting services for both advice and delivery”, according to the CCS.

Procurement , Supply Chain & Commercial Consultancy Services – Value £250m

Suppliers in this lot will be expected to consult the government on “complex commercial procurement transactions, [and] strategic, operational, and dedicated large-scale deployments”. Contracts for each of the four lots will be awarded for an initial period of two years, while two optional one-year extensions available will be available for dependable performers. The bidding process will take place up until mid-May 2018, with up to 1,000 suppliers potentially winning a spot on the framework. Along with individual firms, consortia and joint ventures are also entitled to bid for the MCF2 framework. To do so, each consortium or joint venture will need to pick a lead member before submitting.

 

Frameworks are clearly a major part of our industry – and our Construction Frameworks Conference is set to be the biggest event this year with frameworks at the heart of the topic. Gareth Rhys Williams, Government Chief Commercial Officer and Non-Executive Director at Crown Commercial Service (CCS), will be delivering a keynote at the conference before colleague Sam Ulyatt, Strategic Director at CCS, will join the ‘What is the future of construction frameworks’ panel which is the final session of five during the day. Join us there > www.built-environment-networking.com/CFC18

Other Companies Speaking Include: University of Sussex, Scape Group, CIOB, North West Construction Hub, Lincolnshire County Council, Procure North West, University of Nottingham, LHC, Department of Health and Social Care, DHSC, Re:allies, Procure Plus, City of Lincoln Council, Wates, Rider Levett Bucknall, Construction Leadership Council, Southern Construction Framework, National Association of Construction Frameworks, ISG, Constructive Coaching, Kings College London, Mace.