Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
WHAT IS
SMART PFI?
Introduction
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
is one of the most influential architectural institutions in the
world, and has been promoting architecture and architects since
being awarded its Royal Charter in 1837. The 40,000-strong professional
institute is committed to serving the public interest through
good design. It also represents 85% of registered architects in
the UK through its regional structure as well as a significant
number of international members.
The problem
Both the original and recently revised standard
procurement models for schools delivered under the BSF programme
waste time, money and effort. The original model operated between
2005 and 2008, and for each sample school this procurement route
initially engages three bidders, each led by a main contractor
with contracted architects embedded within the bidding consortium.
The contractors developed their bids on the basis of a brief prepared
by the local authority client, and each produced concept design
proposals, site appraisals, ICT strategy and costings. During
this process each of the three teams would have a range of meetings
and discussions with school officials and teachers, the Local
Education Authority, and others to produce a concept design. This
would form a key part of the assessment that would result in two
bidders going forward to a second stage involving more detailed
consultation, technical designs and other development preparation
to form the final bids, following which a successful bidder would
emerge.
Starting in October 2007, and concluding in
February 2008, Partnerships for Schools undertook a broad review
of the BSF procurement route, resulting in recommendations for
a number of changes. In this model three bidders are reduced to
two earlier in the process, after 29 weeks rather than 44 weeks
in the current process. They are also assessed under slightly
modified criteria that emphasise their capacity and track record
in partnering, as well as the more traditional concept design
work, ICT strategising and other preparatory work more usually
undertaken by the three bidders at this stage, and the consultation
that these elements of the bid entail.
This does lead to a reduction in the overall
procurement time—down to 75 weeks from the current 82-week
model. There are associated time and cost savings in the revised
process, including in the level of detail of the design work undertaken,
with more detailed elements of the concept design and full technical
specification only required from two bidders at the second stage.
This re-focusing of the time available for detailed development
and completion of design work is a step in the right direction,
but does not go far enough in fostering the very best design solutions,
still wastes a great deal of time and resources and does not reflect
the best practice that exists in other sectors of both public
and private procurement.
The solution
The Building Schools for the Future review recommendations
do not go far enough. We were deeply disappointed that more progress
was not made towards a clearer and more efficient relationship
between designing and bidding in BSF, and further steps were not
taken that could result in much improved value for money; significant
reductions in the time and cost associated with delivering schools
through BSF, and an opportunity to increase the quality of the
educational transformation delivered through BSF.
The RIBA believes that it is fundamental that
before engaging with the bidding teams the local authority work
out what they want. We believe that this requires the preparation
of a concept design, by the client, to test, refine and finalise
the brief. This would mean integrating early design work
by the client into the bid process and omitting the time consuming
and resource-heavy approach of doing this with multiple separate
bidders.
The early preparatory work required of the client
would start with the establishment of the transformational education
strategy, goes on to develop strategic briefs and diagrammatic
representations of school organisation, then the application of
these to the actual site in a thoroughly researched way to produce
a concept design. All this is done with full engagement of stakeholders,
including visits by the school representatives, the designers
and project teams to other schools. The designs are developed
to RIBA stage C or C+ and properly costed to fully ensure that
they are affordable and feasible. This work is then made available
to bidders as part of the tender documents and brief so that "they
hit the ground running".
Using this model the better advised and supported
Local Authority will benefit from the development and testing
of a more detailed brief. More time can be spent with one design
team refining a brief that suits the Local Authority and better
reflects their particular needs and aspirations. This should also
ensure that there is increased certainty surrounding budgets and
affordability, and quality can be specified at this stage in an
open and transparent manner.
The bidders are then invited to bid to flesh
out and deliver the concept design, to provide their own unique
innovation to the proposal, demonstrating betterment where they
feel they can bring advantageous changes to bear, and focusing
on technical deliver and how to ensure best value on the agreed
concept.
This would:
— reduce the pressure on educationalists
and other consultees, as well as the significant associated costs,
caused by duplication of effort during the early stages;
— similarly, avoid duplicate conceptual
design work by the bidders;
— provide more certainty to the client
on affordability and quality issues;
— create a more detailed brief for
bidders;
— place greater emphasis on partnering
as the key differentiator in the early selection process;
— allow bidders to concentrate on the
later, more detailed design work, bringing their own innovation
to bear and ensure best value is achieved; and
— guarantee a significant reduction
in bid costs.
The outcome
The RIBA estimates that the Smart procurement
model applied to BSF would save schools upwards of £1 million
and reduce the time for procurement by six months, if they invested
more time and resource upfront in the vital early preparatory
stages of the process before going to the market.
Next steps
We believe a pilot study should be run to prove
that investing earlier in the process brings much greater benefits,
in terms of increasing design quality while significantly reducing
time and financial cost to bidders and client.
Much clearer guidance should be provided to
procuring authorities on the requirement for, and benefits resulting
from more detailed design preparation, including the client-side
preparation of a concept design before seeking a delivery partner.
July 2008
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