July/August 2018 – Timber
It is remarkable that the Public Administration & Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACA) should, following Carillion’s collapse, criticise the government’s penchant for spending as little as possible while forcing contractors to take “unacceptable” levels of risk.
Remarkable because it’s been said many times over and nobody in government has ever taken a blind bit of notice.
It doesn’t take a parliamentary committee to point out that always taking the lowest bid is unlikely to deliver the best value for money. It’s a fact well-known throughout the construction supply chain.
The wisdom of seeking best value in preference to lowest price has been proven. Clients such as Stanhope, BAA (as was) and even the Defence Estates were blazing a trail 20 years ago – and were widely admired for their leadership.
It all stopped with the worldwide recession – and today it’s as if it never happened.
David Taylor
Editor
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