The National Audit Office, parliament's public spending watchdog, is to assess the extent to which the government has adopted Egan procurement methods such as partnering
The body has started work on a follow-up to its Modernising Construction report, published in 2001, which backed the use of partnering but raised concerns over whether it could be anti-competitive.

An audit office spokesperson said it was questionable how much public sector procurement had changed in the intervening years.

He said: "The time is right to examine the progress since the last report. The extent to which it has embedded is unclear."

The audit office intends to examine the work of the Office for Government Commerce, the Treasury arm that has taken the lead on determining state procurement policy over the past three years.

He said: "We will look at whether the OGC has done enough to improve the construction management capabilities of government departments and agencies. We will analyse OGC data."

The spokesperson said the audit office would compare public sector procurement with private sector practice.

The audit office expects to complete the research by August and to publish its findings early next year. The spokesperson said the body would launch a website to enable the industry to contribute its to the report.

  • The NAO is due to publish a report on the performance of the Health and Safety Executive in improving the industry's safety in the early summer. The public accounts committee is tackling the same issue, also during the summer.