The publication of the The Construction Playbook, a new guidance document released by the UK Government for public sector procurement, has been welcomed by JCT at their December 10th Council meeting. JCT is listed within the Playbook as one of the key standard form contract providers recommended for use on public sector projects.
The Construction Playbook is a guidance document aimed at professionals across public sector bodies who are responsible for the planning and delivery of public work programmes and projects.
The 12-chapter document sets out 14 policy areas flowing throughout the project life-cycle, including, Preparation and Planning, Publication, Selection, Evaluation and Reward, and Contract Implementation, which, if followed through, would deliver reforms and measures to ensure best practice and improve the ways in which public works are delivered.
The policies to be implemented as part of the guidance are designed to ensure improvements across areas such as sustainability, building safety, health and well-being, implementing modern methods of construction, increasing efficiency, standardization, increasing value through long-term contracting, and reslience, through improved assessment of suppliers and more sustainable contracting arrangements.
JCT 2016 is specifically referenced in Chapter 6 on Effective Contracting, where it is recommended that standard forms of contract “can be used to help simplify and speed up procurement procedures”, and that “by applying a common approach across the public sector, best practice is more easily embedded and suppliers are more likely to experience a consistent application of policies and practice.”
The development of The Construction Playbook has been a cooperative effort between Government and the industry, with work by public officials, a number of industry stakeholders, and input from both private and public sectors on sharing best practice and developing the policy framework of the document.
JCT chair, Richard Saxon CBE, said:
“JCT welcomes the release of The Construction Playbook. It marks a significant collaboration between Government and the industry to deliver a clear strategy to implement long-term and wide-reaching measures to improve public sector procurement.
Through our own role as a cross-industry collaborative body, and in the provision of our contracts and services which help to enable public sector works, we support the adoption of the Playbook. In our work on the next edition of JCT contracts, we will be studying the Playbook’s call for more effectiveness in the areas of data exchange, collaboration, value delivery, risk management and continuous improvement.”