The National Audit Office has passed judgement on public sector construction procurement.

Improvements have been made, says the NAO, since its last report in 2001 but a massive £2.6 billion could be saved if more government departments adopted best practice.

It will be no surprise to read that integrated teams, collaborative working, partnering – call it what you will – is the panacea put forward by the NAO in its report. File it alongside Rethinking constructing, Accelerating change and Achieving excellence in construction.

David Hill is surely not alone among m&e contractors in failing to notice this sea change (page 21). As he says, margins are still wafer-thin, retentions haven’t gone away and unscrupulous contracts will trip up the unwary (page 47).

Good news then that industry norms are being broken down by the Avanti initiative (pages 37-38). Avanti uses standard information technology solutions to assist collaborative working. If the NAO is to get the improvement it seeks, the m&e specialist needs to be an integral part of the team where their expertise can be brought to bear early in the project.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor