The first SME frameworks have been awarded through the £7bn Programme and Project Partners initiative.
Process Pipework Services (Ulverston); Shepley Engineers Ltd and PPS Electrical, Whitehaven; and Alpha Engineering, Preston, have secured long-term frameworks on the KDP3 Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), KDP4 Electrical and Instrumentation and KDP5 Mechanical Pipework work packages. The companies will work with PPP’s appointed Key Delivery Partners (KDPs) for these packages, Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick, EJ Parker, NG Bailey and Altrad Babcock.
These frameworks awards have a combined potential value of £51m in the first five years. The commercial model rewards project performance as well as other factors including sustainability, developing people, and investment in Cumbria.
Click here to read the full press release from PPP.
The Swimming with the Big Fish SME Matchmaker Service has been engaged by Programme and Project Partners (PPP) to support the inclusion of high performing SMEs willing to invest and grow in Cumbria in its supply chain. The Service – delivered by specialist Quantity Surveying and procurement practice Solomons Europe – has provided support throughout the tender process, helping to ensure early matches made between SMEs and KDPs mature into contracts.
In response to the PPP announcement, Solomons Europe’s Managing Director, Dominic Doig, says: “We’re delighted to see the first SME frameworks signed and sealed. This is a significant milestone for PPP and the culmination of a huge effort by the Swimming with the Big Fish SME Matchmaker Service working closely with PPP’s appointed Key Delivery Partners.
“The procurement and commercial approach taken by PPP is pioneering. It is building an enterprise – an ecosystem of business aligned to deliver PPP’s ambitions to make the Sellafield site safe for future generations and delivers better outcomes for local communities.
“Business, in particular SMEs, are driven by delivering on time and on budget. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the PPP model demands more. Our focus is on helping to build long term, mutually respectful and beneficial relationships between major contractors and SMEs through PPP contracts. These contracts not only contain project related targets but also targets for local job creation, apprentice recruitment, skills enhancement, investment in facilities and offices and social impact activities that make a real difference to local people.
“We’re looking forward to seeing these targets become a reality. And we’re looking forward to further SME framework announcements over the coming months. This first raft of frameworks is very much just the start. There are many more to come.”
John Rossiter, Head of PPP Supply Chain and Executive Director at Solomons Europe, added: “This is a huge milestone for PPP as we enter in to our first long-term frameworks with SMEs and local businesses at Tier 3 of our ecosystem; a first in the construction industry and the output of a huge and collaborative effort by an aligned team from PPP, the KDPs and the Swimming with the Big Fish SME Matchmaker Service.”
To date, 116 SMEs have registered with the Swimming with the Big Fish SME Matchmaker Service. The Service has supported the agreement of 35 Heads of Terms between 23 SMEs and KDPs and is currently focused on converting these into frameworks. It has set a target of 21 framework agreements by the end of March 2024 – a figure that has potential to more than double.
The Service is delivered by team members from Solomons Europe based in its offices near Cockermouth and Kendal.
You can learn more about the work of the Service by clicking here.