Serco and NCVO to develop standards for prime and sub-contractor relationships

Submitted by Nisha Alberti on Thu, 07/02/2013 - 10:49am

Civil Society has reported that Serco and NCVO are together creating ‘standards for the relationship between prime and sub-contractors delivering public contracts.’ These standards will look at the working relationship between the two including levels of support and sharing facilities.

The news was revealed by James Allen, NCVO’s Head of Public Services and Partnerships, at a Public Administration Select Committee hearing. Here issues of transfer of risk between primes and their supply chains, and the challenges small organisations face when bidding for public sector contracts were also discussed, while greater transparency concerning Work Programme data was called for, Civil Society has said.

For more information, please see the Civil Society website. 

Comments

Submitted by stephw2w on Fri, 08/02/2013 - 10:52am.

Is this reinventing the wheel aka The Merlin Standard? If the Standard isn't fit for purpose then it needs to be changed - what's the point in having more standards?

Submitted by apl6669 on Tue, 12/02/2013 - 2:46pm.

If Merlin is not fit for purpose (which many think its not!) then why are the public sector not looking to use the BS11000?

This has already been piloted successfully in the public sector and provides an excellent framework for managing collaborative relationships between prime and sub-contractors. A major British Standard should be what our government bodies are aiming for.