Government announces new portal for £40bn construction pipeline

The government has announced a new portal for the publication of around £40bn in contract opportunities through its construction and infrastructure pipeline in a bid to help more SMEs access work.

The government confirmed today that Barbour ABI, part of UBM Built Environment, publishers of Building magazine, have won the contract to collect, collate and publish the government’s £40bn construction and infrastructure pipeline.

The move is aimed at improving visibility of the government’s upcoming opportunities in construction and infrastructure to help more firms bid for public sector contracts.

Paul Morrell, the government’s chief construction adviser, said the move was “great news for everyone who uses the pipeline, and especially SMEs”.

He said: “By joining forces with experts in the field of handling and publishing construction data, we hope that accessing the pipeline can be made increasingly user-friendly.

“What’s more, we now expect to see users provided with a more detailed breakdown of upcoming work on the pipeline. This will particularly benefit SMEs working deeper in the supply chain who lack the resources to search for this information individually.”

“I look forward to seeing the pipeline, already worth around £40bn with more than 600 future potential projects and programmes, go from strength to strength under this new partnership.”

Barbour ABI was awarded the contract after a formal tender process.

Adrian Barrick, CEO of UBM Built Environment, said: “I am enormously enthusiastic about the opportunity that this provides to assist the UK’s largest construction client in meeting its objectives and helping suppliers, especially SMEs.

“Delivery of the publicly funded construction and infrastructure pipeline to the widest possible audience will help to reform the way the Government procures construction across all sectors and to fulfil the commitments made in the Plan for Growth at Budget 2011.”

Barrick said Barbour ABI won the tender on the back of their proven data collection processes and their existing knowledge in researching and tracking construction projects.