16 Accepted

DfE awarded single-supplier contract for free school meals without sufficient capacity evidence.

Recommendation
In 2020 the Department for Education’s (DfE) management of the free school meals voucher scheme during the covid-19 pandemic, was an instance where further information would have been valuable to help manage the risks of the project. DfE awarded a contract through a CCS framework on which there was a single supplier. However, it had limited evidence on the supplier’s capacity to deliver the voucher scheme to the pace and scale required.32
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and is working with the Crown Commercial Service to review current framework guidance and standards for providers. Following this review, the Cabinet Office will determine whether a separate framework playbook is needed or if existing guidance will be augmented to ensure clear and authoritative central guidance on framework management by Autumn 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Target Implementation date: Autumn 2024 3.2 Framework agreements are a means which ensure that effective procurements can be undertaken quickly and efficiently from capable suppliers, by multiple public sector organisations, in categories where there are common requirements and where it is important to avoid unnecessary duplication and poor practices. 3.3 The Cabinet Office has already done much to ensure value is maximised when using frameworks. For example, in 2021 David Mosey at King’s College was asked by the Cabinet Office to produce Constructing the Gold Standard: An Independent Review of Public Sector Construction Frameworks. This outlines how to apply the Construction Playbook principles to construction frameworks and is an integrated and collaborative approach to framework procurement, contracting and management. In November 2023, King’s College and Constructing Excellence launched a verification scheme for assessing consistency with ‘Constructing the Gold Standard’. This is an objective system for recognising and supporting those framework providers and clients who adopt Gold Standard frameworks, framework contracts and action plans. 3.4 The Cabinet Office is working together with the Crown Commercial Service and other stakeholders to review current framework guidance and the standards that framework providers should meet, to ensure the framework agreements they put in place operate effectively in line with government guidance, policy and regulation. 3.5 Following the review, the Cabinet Office will determine whether a separate framework playbook is required or whether it will be more effective to collate, signpost and augment existing guidance, taking into account the need for different approaches in different categories of goods or services; as well as the opportunities presented by the new public procurement regulations to establish new types of framework agreement. 3.6 Together with the Crown Commercial Service, the Cabinet Office will then ensure that there is clear and authoritative central guidance on the effective establishment and management of frameworks, including the collection of data on the framework’s performance.
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age 2.6 yrs
Report published 13 Dec 2023