UK’s decade-long infrastructure strategy drives push for transformative procurement frameworks

The UK government’s £725 billion, decade-long infrastructure plan signals a major shift towards sophisticated, collaborative procurement methods. Frameworks aligned with the ‘Gold Standard’ are set to unlock innovation, improve delivery, and maximise the impact of record investment across social and economic infrastructure sectors.

The UK government’s recent commitment to a decade-long infrastructure investment strategy, allocating at least £72...

5 billion, presents both a significant opportunity and a formidable challenge for the construction and infrastructure sectors. This long-term funding framework, aiming to boost economic and social infrastructure, underlines the necessity of a strategic shift in procurement and delivery approaches to meet the growing demand and complexity of projects.

Annual public sector capital investment is projected to grow by over 15% through this decade, targeting priority sectors such as defence, health—which will see a 20% increase in investment—and education, with an annual £2.4 billion dedicated to building 500 schools. Capital maintenance is also set to benefit, with spending expected to reach £10 billion per annum by 2034/35, underscoring a crucial focus on the resilience and performance of existing assets. However, as Simon Rawlinson and Mark Langdale of Arcadis highlight in their detailed analysis, business-as-usual procurement will not suffice to deliver the ambitious objectives set out in the comprehensive spending review.

The government’s national infrastructure strategy recognises that erratic capital spending patterns have historically impeded infrastructure delivery in the UK. In response, the strategy emphasises creating long-term, investible programmes designed to foster skills development, innovation, and supply chain capacity building. Yet, with various public and private sector clients—including utility firms, nuclear developers, and investors in rapidly growing sectors like life sciences and data centres—all competing for a finite pool of skilled construction resources, the competition to be the ‘client of choice’ has never been so intense.

Frameworks—a method of procurement where clients establish long-term agreements with a select group of suppliers—are identified as a critical tool for raising productivity and driving innovation. These frameworks, already recognised in government guidance such as the Construction Playbook, have historically delivered mixed results, partly due to inconsistent application and management post-award. The 2022 “Gold Standard” framework report by David Mosey provides a rigorous benchmark, outlining 24 recommendations to optimise framework performance, including early supply chain integration and collective action among framework participants to share lessons learnt and drive continuous improvement.

A fundamental issue that frameworks address is the inefficiency and risk associated with transactional and one-off project procurement models, which dominate the UK construction industry. One-off contracting often fails to leverage efficiencies across multiple projects, leading to delays, higher costs, and limited innovation. Frameworks, by contrast, enable repeated collaboration, process standardisation, and the facilitation of innovation through a visible pipeline of future work. This repeat workload is critical, allowing suppliers to invest confidently in product and process improvements, benefiting all framework members and clients alike.

Critical to the success of frameworks is the creation of a credible and consistent forward pipeline that signals a dependable flow of work. Several factors influence the effectiveness of frameworks, such as aligned behaviours among client and suppliers, consistent end-to-end collaborative processes, clear strategic purpose, and performance measurement tied to meaningful KPIs. The Bristol City Council’s Strategic Partnering initiative with Arcadis, Arup, and Mott MacDonald serves as a practical example where focused collaboration, aligned values—including sustainability and social value—and streamlined processes have halved procurement times and markedly improved project delivery outcomes. Social value achievements alone exceed £5 million annually, demonstrating that frameworks can extend beyond economic efficiencies to contribute to local employment and inclusion.

The government has also launched tools like the Infrastructure Pipeline, a real-time, interactive online resource detailing over 780 planned projects, providing investors and the supply chain with greater clarity and certainty. This transparency supports the strategic alignment necessary for effective frameworks and investment decisions.

However, setting up and managing frameworks for success demands significant behavioural and procedural commitment. Early supply chain engagement, pragmatic and decisive leadership, and attention to ‘hygiene factors’ like timely purchase order processing and project management are essential. Innovation management within frameworks must balance standardisation with controlled, best-practice-driven advancement to avoid bespoke, inefficient solutions. De-risking the pipeline, including undertaking pre-construction development and securing realistic budgets reflective of scope, underpins the confidence needed for supply chain investment.

Lastly, the government’s 10-year infrastructure strategy underscores a broader intent to integrate economic and social infrastructure planning in a single coherent approach for the first time, boosting overall productivity and addressing the UK’s historic underperformance in infrastructure delivery. Coupled with commitments to decarbonisation and electrification—such as the £400 million investment in EV charging infrastructure—procurement methods and client-supply chain relationships are pivotal to delivering these outcomes efficiently and sustainably.

In summary, the UK’s ambitious infrastructure investment programme will require a fundamental uplift in procurement sophistication. Frameworks, when executed to a ‘Gold Standard’ with long-term collaborative focus, visible pipelines, and performance-driven culture, offer a proven pathway to unlock value, innovation, and productivity gains critical to fulfilling the government’s infrastructure ambitions. Public sector clients, supply chains, and advisory teams must embrace this shift collectively if the full potential of this unprecedented investment is to be realised.

Source: Noah Wire Services