How to optimise value when creating framework agreements

It's easy to see framework agreements as a silver bullet for streamlining your authority's procurement. Instead of running a full-blown procurement process for every tender, you can just run a mini-competition within a closed pool of pre-approved suppliers - or even just directly award the contract. Easy peasy.

Creating and deploying a framework is just the first step, however. If they're not properly thought through from the get-go, you risk not reaping their full benefits - or, worse still, you may even come to detrimentally impact how efficiently you're procuring.

In this quick how-to guide, we run through our 5 top tips for how to get even more value from framework agreements, helping you to procure more effectively.

😱 #1 Ask yourself: is a framework the right option?

Frameworks are a resource-intensive ordeal to create and operate, so do yourself a favour before you launch into creating one and ask: is running a framework really the right option for what we need?

When one of your frameworks is due to conclude, don't go on auto-pilot and start it back up again. Ask:

• Did this framework deliver the results we hoped it would?

• Did it attract the kind of suppliers we aimed for?

• Was the quality of work delivered via it what we expected?

• Are we now spending more or less money on the goods & services the framework caters for?

Similarly, if you're mulling whether to create a new framework from scratch, first consider the nature of what you envision it being used to procure. Fundamentally, it may prove more resource-effective in the long term running a standard procurement process if the goods and/or services you see the framework being used to acquire will only be turned to once or twice.

Frameworks can be a really effective tool for acquiring the goods and services your contracting authority needs, but it's worthwhile taking a step back and asking whether they're the right tool at this moment.

📢 #2 Don't go unheard - let it be known your frameworks exist!

If you've just gone through the process of creating a framework, you know how much of a drawn-out process it can be.

Worse still is if you go through all this effort only for it to go unused, or attract less-than-ideal suppliers.

Lots of procurement teams, mistakenly, assume the work is done once their new framework is released. But you can't presume other contracting authorities and suppliers are keeping tabs on your procurement activity as diligently as you'd hope they are.

Other buyers and suppliers alike need to be made aware that your framework exists. How?

• When devising your framework, try using a Pre-Information Notice to make others aware it's in the works, and that you're open to feedback

• Publicise your new framework in relevant news and trade outlets to get the word out

• Publish new pages, blogs and articles on your authority's website dedicated to your new framework

• Raise your new framework in any procurement forums or groups you're a part of

By amplifying your framework's existence, you stand of attracting contracting authorities and suppliers onto your framework.

📊 #3 Use data to help create your frameworks

Thousands of different frameworks of various sizes, scopes and suppliers are being used across the public sector.

Thousands more are being added each year. Tussell's frameworks analytics shows that in 2022 alone public bodies created a staggering 2,600 new frameworks!

(Maximum potential) Value & volume of new framework agreements
2017 - 2022 

When designing new framework agreements, don't ignore this huge reserve of best practice, ideas and models. Harness (smart) data to help yifnorm your team's framework designs, or - equally - help you discern whether there's already a framework you could join that caters for your contracting authority's needs.

Let's say your local council is looking to buy or expand a data centre. Instead of going off your gut, look to the data to see which frameworks have recently been used to award data centre-related contracts by other local authorities.

In this case, Tussell's framework analytics shows that Technology Products & Associated Services has been used to award the most data centre contracts by local authorities as of late, followed by G-Cloud 12.

It only takes a few clicks to find the right framework with Tussell.
See it in action.

If these frameworks fit your contracting authority's needs already, consider procuring through them rather than creating your own. If they don't, look under the hood at how their specifications and lots have been laid out, helping you create an agreement that caters to your more specific needs.

🌱 #4 Harnessing frameworks to promote social value

Have you properly considered how your framework agreements could be helping your contracting authority to promote social value?

Frameworks often go under-appreciated as a tool to further your contracting authority's social value aims, but there are lots of ways you can 

This could mean:

• When accepting bidders onto your newly created frameworks, your Standard Supplier Questionnaire could include questions to ask what experience prospective suppliers have in promoting social value;

• Mini-competitions on your framework could include specific requirements for bidders to provide evidence of how they've previously promoted social value in past projects

• Direct awards could require suppliers to dedicate at least X% of their award amount to promoting social value

... and that's just for starters.

Not embedding social value requirements into your frameworks is a missed opportunity - to learn more about how you can integrate social value both when creating and running a framework, check out Social Value Portal's guide How to include social value in your framework agreements.

🤝 #5 Run frameworks in partnership with others

Finally: it's easy to get tunnel-visioned on your contracting authority's particular problems and needs when contemplating a framework, and, as a result, go into the framework design process solo.

But this needn't be so. Other contracting authorities are likely facing very similar problems to yourself, and would also stand to benefit from the framework you're envisioning.

By designing and launching a framework in partnership with another or multiple contracting authorities, you not only lighten the workload on your procurement team, but - more importantly - you also end up with a much more appealing framework to prospective suppliers: suppliers are much more inclined to apply for a framework through which they can build relationships with multiple public sector accounts at once, over just one.

Keeping track of where your and other contracting authorities' needs align is easier said than done. Liaising with your fellow procurement professionals, attending discussion groups, and keeping up with procurement news will only get you so far - you also need to look at the data.

Say you're a local council in the North East who's planning on pursuing a lot of works-related projects over the coming few years. Tussell shows that your neighbours Middlesbrough and Durham County Councils have been procuring in this category heavily in the past 12 months: perhaps they'd be interested in collaborating on a new North East-focused works framework to facilitate this in the future?

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Framework agreements are growing in use every year. If you're going to follow the trend and start utilising them more yourself, don't rush into it: take the time to consider whether they're really the right tool for the task at hand, and how you can be integrating best practise when designing and deploying them.

Crucially, don't neglect the role hard data can play during these phases. Smart procurement data can help your team decide whether there's already a framework out there that fits your needs, provide examples and material when designing your own framework, and enable your team to spot potential framework partners.

To learn more about how Tussell's procurement intelligence platform can help you create and deploy frameworks more effectively, book in a quick chat with our team.