Out-Law News 1 min. read
20 Sep 2012, 1:38 pm
The Government Construction Infrastructure Pipeline (GCIP) will combine its previous Funded Construction Pipeline with the infrastructure commitments outlined in the National Infrastructure Plan. The data is currently published in the form of a single file on the Government's website twice a year.
Under the new contract Barbour ABI will collect, collate and publish the details of upcoming construction projects for which the public purse is or is likely to be the source of funding. By doing so it plans to improve the visibility of the Government's forward work plans for the benefit of the supply chain and investors, allowing companies to identify potential contract opportunities at an early stage.
Barbour ABI has not indicated how often the data will be updated, but says it will publish the document "regularly".
The Government's chief construction adviser, Paul Morrell, said that the deal was "great news" for companies which rely on the pipeline, particularly smaller businesses.
"By joining forces with experts in the field of handling and publishing construction data, we hope that accessing the pipeline can be made increasingly user-friendly," he said. "What's more, we now expect to see users provided with a more detailed breakdown of upcoming work on the pipeline. This will particularly benefit SMEs working deeper in the supply chain who lack the resources to search for this information individually.
The Government is the UK construction sector's single largest client, responsible for 40% of annual spend. The current pipeline features over 600 future potential projects and programmes with an estimated worth of £40bn.
Barbour ABI said that as more opportunities became available, it would be able to provide users of the pipeline with a more detailed breakdown of upcoming work packages. It has also committed to making the data provided more user-friendly, and to promoting the benefits of the pipeline more widely across the construction sector.
"I am enormously enthusiastic about the opportunity that this provides to assist the UK's largest construction client in meeting its objectives and helping suppliers, especially SMEs," said Adrian Barrick of UBM Built Environment, the parent company of Barbour ABI. "Delivery of the publicly funded construction and infrastructure pipeline to the widest possible audience will help to reform the way the Government procures construction across all sectors and to fulfill the commitments made in the Plan for Growth."
