AMEC and BSI work up best practice guide

International project management and services firm AMEC has played a significant role in the development of a best practice framework to improve collaborative business relationships.

The authors of Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 11000 Collaborative Business Relationships, published this week by the British Standards Institution and Partnership Sourcing Limited, called on AMEC's expertise of collaborative work across a wide range of industries.

Chris Lumley who led AMEC's involvement with the two organisations, said: "We have used collaborative working to great effect on many major projects such as BAA's Heathrow Terminal 5, and with leading public and private sector organisations including AstraZeneca, BP, the Ministry of Defence, National Grid and Shell.

PAS 11000 sets out an eight-stage framework that enables organisations to develop their own approaches to managing internal and external business relationships. It gives best practice advice on how to collaborate within the supply chain and has wide applications for government, societal organisations and industry, ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations.

Operations director at PSL David Hawkins, said: ''This is a significant milestone in developing UK competitiveness through collaborative working. The approach has been anchored in practical best practice and the contribution from AMEC was extremely valuable.”

BSI and PSL also received input from six other leading organisations: the Association of Alliance Managers, BT Global Supply, Chartered Institute of Purchase and Supply, Intellect, Office of Government Commerce and TUV UK on behalf of the Association of British Certification Bodies.