13 March 2009
By David Williams
Details have been announced for a £4bn funding framework to provide academy schools in areas in England not yet running a Building Schools for the Future scheme.
The framework, directly funded by the government, is expected to run for four years and differs from the existing £2bn framework by splitting England into northern and southern regions.
Up to 12 contracts will be tendered in each area. Deals are expected to total £1.5bn in the northern area and £2.5bn in the south. The Partnerships for Schools agency hopes the measure will produce a larger number of smaller contracts.
The notice for the procurement of the Contractors’ Framework was published by the Official Journal of the European Union on March 6.
PfS chief executive Tim Byles said: ‘The original framework has been a very successful way of producing new schools. It is fast, flexible and predictable. We want to see a range of contractors coming in, not only large national players but medium-sized firms with a track record of school building.’
The National Federation of Builders welcomed the efforts to accommodate small and medium-sized enterprises, as Private Finance Initiative frameworks typically exclude all but the biggest firms by bundling contracts into packages too large for smaller bidders to take on.
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