The government’s decision to mandate the PAS 91 pre-qualification form on all central government construction projects from January 1st 2011 has been welcomed – but also prompted calls for a wider and faster take-up.
The new standard PQQ has also been made mandatory for departments’ “agents, agencies and non-departmental public bodies” from March 1st.
The decision was announced via a “procurement policy action note” from the Office of Government Commerce on 10th December.
But local authorities and higher education institutions are among the major public sector clients excluded from the mandate. In addition, PAS 91 will only be mandated for Tier 1 contractors, not their supply chains.
Rudi Klein, chief executive of the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group, said: “The next major obstacle is to also make it mandatory for the supply chain too. We’re worried that firms will find that main contractors are still asking them to join another scheme. It must become standard across the board at the exclusion of other compliancy schemes, otherwise the problem of excessive costs will be perpetuated.”
Klein also said that a recent SECG survey of 8000 member firms estimated that unnecessary form-filling cost the industry overall up to £500m a year. “That burden falls mostly on the smaller firms which suffer horrendous costs,” he added.
Richard Diment, chief executive of the FMB, agreed that the partial roll-out of PAS 91 wasn’t ideal. “We were made to understand that ministers could only enforce [the form] for central government contracts. But our members, at the smaller end of contracting, aren’t often in contact with central government departments.”
He also added: “Pressure ought to be put on Constructionline and other similar schemes [such as competefor.com] to adopt PAS 91 as quickly as possible. They are offering public sector contracts, paid for by tax-payers.
“The government see small businesses as the powerhouses of the economy, but they’re not doing much to help small businesses get there.”
In response, Constructionline told CM that it was moving ahead with a planned switch to PAS 91, but that this would prove time-consuming.
Director Philip Prince said: “PAS91 envisages a lengthy transition period to allow service providers as well as buyers who maintain their own lists to make the necessary changes to their current question sets, IT systems and to inform buyers and suppliers accordingly.
“Over the next few months Constructionline will be working with our current buyers to produce a roll out plan for PAS91.”
The new PQQ was developed by the British Standards Institution in partnership with BIS, the National Federation of Builders, Federation of Master Builders, Civil Engineering Contractors association, Specialist Engineering Contractors Group and Constructionline.
This article updates a news story on PAS 91 published in the January edition.
