Welsh construction is doing well, but is it performing well enough and how can we improve on our performance and the procurement process?

Last week CEW gathered together two small groups of construction professionals to explore two issues that are fundamental to securing improvements in the way construction projects are delivered now and into the future.

The first of these focused on the need for industry performance trends to be measured and then used to identify good practices and drive continuous improvement across Wales. Whilst information exists on the better performing projects through schemes such as CEW’s Exemplar Programme it is just as important to understand how the broader industry is performing and where attention needs to be targeted if improvements are to be made. As well as improving industry performance it was also clear that the performance of the finished product needs to be measured so that we focus on both process and outcomes to fully demonstrate value. Our aim is to develop a suite of measures to reflect general industry performance and outcomes and to apply these across the Welsh built environment. Whilst this initial meeting brought together a small group of professionals working within the education sector we would like to extend this exercise to other parts of Wales and to a wider range of stakeholders across other sectors including infrastructure.

The second workshop was driven by the growing frustrations experienced by Clients, Consultants and Contractors with the procurement process or rather the process which brings these parties together to deliver a project. A particular source of frustration was the difficulty which many public sector clients experienced in getting sufficient suppliers to tender for their projects. Conversely, many suppliers are experiencing complex procurement processes with high bidding costs which make them more selective in their bidding strategies. The group was challenged with developing the “best” procurement process, from their perspective, for delivering greater value to the customer/end user and also to explore opportunities to develop an optimum process to meet as many needs as possible. A simple task, of course  but discussions were very open with different perspectives shared and some common themes emerging. The trick is to marry these different concerns, constraints and challenges and develop an optimum model! It’s work in progress but the outputs from this workshop offer a few ways forward. As with the first workshop our aim is to extend this exercise to other parts of Wales and to a wider range of stakeholders across other sectors, including infrastructure. 

If you would like to contribute to either or both of these initiatives please contact Ed Evans by email or call 02920 493322.