A £3bn national framework has been launched by the contracting authority NPS, with larger contractors being invited to bid for the framework. This new round of investment in the UK's infrastructure is bound to have a significantly positive impact on the UK's construction industry.


The Social Infrastructure Development (SID) Framework is a new mechanism that exists to deliver infrastructure projects across the public sector including schools, housing, police stations and cares, and will be used to design, finance and contract the infrastructure projects with development land being transferred to the contract winners.


In total the NPS aims to find 5 contractors to deliver the framework over a four year period with projects ranging from £3m to £50m.


Those contractors that wish to be in with a chance have to submit a pre-qualification questionnaire by 12pm on 12th December, after which between 8 and 10 will be selected to submit a formal tender with a view to the framework going live from April 2015.


Mike Britch, managing director of NPS Group said the framework would take NPS Group’s has a “proven track record of delivering programmes on behalf of public authorities” to the “next level”.


He said: “Able to deliver nationally across the full spectrum of public assets, we hope that SID becomes the framework of choice for any public authority or charitable body looking to develop both assets and services locally to reflect the needs of their community.”


Tim Byles is a former schools capital executive who has set up Cornerstone Property Assets to support local authorities, charities and schools who want to deliver projects through the framework, and of the framework he said: “In many ways, this is the next turn of the wheel for public procurement.


“We know that public authorities face significant challenge in squaring the circle of increased - and increasing - demands on local services on the one hand, whilst having significant surplus assets that demand time and resources to maintain on the other.


“The SID Framework marks a new chapter in public procurement - be that for school places, new homes, or adult social care provision - and we are delighted to be one of the brokers to partner with NPS to bring to life this new delivery channel.”


Although this is another move that strengthens the position of the major contractors, it’s likely that there will be significant trickledown to the smaller sme contractors, however it does demonstrate how important it is increasingly becoming for sme contractors to build relationships with the larger players.