Page 26 - Civil Engineering Project Management, Fourth Edition

advantage is that a contractor who specializes in such work has a wider range
of specialist staff to draw upon than a small local authority.
Concessionary Agreements are those used where PFI is undertaken, as des-
cribed in Section 1.7 above. The development of construction procedures 11
Facilities Management Contracts can cover the running of practically anything;
from providing personnel to maintain a prison, school or sewerage system,
to providing janitors and window cleaners. Such contracts are increasingly
being undertaken by civil engineering contractors and even some consulting
engineering firms, because of their management skills.

1.12 Framework Agreements

These are defined in EC Directives and UK Regulations for Utilities (SI 1996/
2911) as:

a contract or other arrangement which is not itself a supply or a works contract but
which establishes the terms (in particular the terms as to price and, where appropriate,
quantity) under which the provider will enter into such contract with a utility in the
period during which the framework agreement applies.
The promoter defines a type of work for which he wishes to let a number of
contracts. From an open tendering process a shortlist of firms are selected on
the basis of some pre-set criteria such as experience, staff proposed, financial
resources, etc. The promoter then invites the selected contractors to bid prices
for future works of the kind defined. When the promoter requires some of the
works defined he can then negotiate terms for it with a contractor on the basis
of prices already submitted.
The advantage of framework agreements is that they avoid the need for
open tendering, or repeated prequalification of tenderers under restricted or
selective tendering. A criticism, however, of framework agreements is that
they can result in long-term tie-ups between a contractor and an employer,
thus tending to reduce open competition as mentioned below in Section 1.14.
Also, as with any pre-selection of contractors on the basis of experience, etc.
first, and then on competitive prices submitted, this could drive prices down
unfairly.

1.13 Influence of computers and information
technology

The use of computers, e-mail, and the Internet for transfer of designs and data
has now become commonplace. Copies of drawings and documents produced
in one office are now sent via the World Wide Web to other offices anywhere