Carillion Services and Bruton Knowles are one of only five partnerships chosen by the Office of Government Commerce’s OGCbuying.solutions to be on its Property and Facilities Management framework agreement.

OGCbuying.solutions is an executive agency of the Office of Government Commerce and it seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public sector procurement. To this end, it has developed a series of framework agreements to reduce the time it takes for public sector bodies to procure a wide range of suppliers and advisors including professional services and facilities advisors, IT and telecoms.

Carillion Services and Bruton Knowles’ agreement as pre-approved property advisers on the Property and Facilities Management framework lasts until 2010.  Bruton Knowles will act as Carillion Services’ property management arm, providing specific estates services to public sector procurers, including acquisition and disposal of property, rent reviews and lease renewals, rating advice and building surveying consultancy.

This latest government agreement for Bruton Knowles follows on from the company’s existing agreement with OGCbuying.solutions to provide specific property services under its Estates and Professional Services framework. Bruton Knowles was selected back in 2004 as one of only seven pre-approved firms to provide a full range of property services and strategic consultancy to government departments, local authorities and non-governmental bodies.

The framework agreements are set to reduce the time it takes for public sector bodies to select and appoint a supplier by removing the need for every customer to go through the Official Journal or the European Union and gain expressions of interest before picking a winning bidder. The frameworks also deliver value for money savings by using economies of scale, reducing waste and promoting best practice. In effect, the framework programme means that services can now be procured from the private sector within days as opposed to months, thereby crucially delivering significant time and cost savings.

Angus Mylles, head of public sector at BK comments on the agreement with Carillion Services, “We are delighted to be joining forces with Carillion to deliver property management expertise within this framework agreement.  This agreement win comes on the back of our existing role with OGCbuying.solutions to provide estates and professional services to public sector procurers and we have seen growing levels of interest for this innovative procurement route from local authorities and also non-governmental bodies. Indeed, we have witnessed at first hand growing awareness of the framework programme and increased understanding of the benefits reaped by this flexible procurement service.

“As approved advisers on these frameworks, we can be appointed almost immediately as we have already taken part in a rigorous tendering process by OGCbuying.solutions, and have been checked out for quality, price, competitiveness and compliance with statutory requirements.  Procurers can also choose to go through a mini-tender between some or all of the approved property advisers, if required.” 

BK actively advises over 70 central government departments, local authorities and other public authorities, including regional development agencies and fire, police and health authorities. Clients include Birmingham City Council, Warwickshire County Council, Wolverhampton City Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council, The Crown Estate, DEFRA, SWERDA and Avon & Somerset Police.