Framework places don't win call-offs

A framework place is a licence to bid, not a pipeline. Under the Procurement Act 2023, the call-off is where clients test your capacity again, publish how you performed, and hold you to the supply chain you named. Contractors and developers who treat the appointment as the finish line will lose call-offs to firms that can show their procurement evidence on demand.

What happened this week

YPO has appointed 76 suppliers to its National Framework for Developer-Led Schemes, procured by Pagabo as YPO's agent under the Procurement Act 2023. Construction News reports a headline value of £26bn across seven lots, with the four-year term due to start on 19 October and run to October 2030 once standstill ends on 15 October. Development agreements of £50m or more carry the biggest advertised value at £16.45bn, with 23 suppliers appointed. Construction Enquirer notes 17 new names in the core developer line-up and some familiar ones missing.

On the same day the University of Oxford named its £1.6bn Oxford Inspire framework, with Mace, McLaughlin & Harvey and Galliford Try joining BAM, Willmott Dixon and Morgan Sindall on the £15m+ lot, and Wates moving to reserve.

Big numbers, plenty of logos on the press release. None of it is work yet.

Why the call-off matters more than the appointment

Headline framework values are ceilings. Every pound has to be won again, scheme by scheme, and the new Act gives clients more tools at that stage than the old regime did.

The government's frameworks guidance confirms call-offs can be awarded with or without competition, as set out in the framework. Where there is a competitive selection process, the client can now apply proportionate conditions of participation at call-off stage, testing legal and financial capacity and technical ability for that particular job. Your framework PQQ from 2026 does not automatically carry you through a 2028 mini-competition.

Then there is what happens after award. For public contracts over £5m, including call-offs, the client must generally set at least three KPIs and publish them, according to the KPI guidance. Performance against them has to be assessed and published at least once a year and on termination. Your delivery record becomes public data the next client on the same framework can read before they shortlist you.

The supply chain you name becomes the supply chain you keep

Two sections of the Act deserve more attention from commercial teams than they get.

Section 72 applies where you relied on a subcontractor to satisfy the conditions of participation. The client can direct you to enter a binding arrangement with that firm, and if you refuse, it can decline to award or terminate. Naming a strong MEP or façade specialist in a bid to pass the technical bar, then swapping them post-award for someone cheaper, is now a contractual risk rather than a commercial habit.

Section 73 implies 30-day payment terms into every public sub-contract, and any term trying to override them has no effect. Pay-when-certified drift, late valuation certificates and slow pay less notices on public call-offs are not just poor practice. They sit against an implied term.

Put those together with this week's other news. G&T's Autumn update, reported by Construction Enquirer on 6 October, warned that competing bidders draw on the same narrow pool of MEP, façade and steelwork specialists. On a framework, several of your competitors will be naming the same firms in the same mini-competitions. The contractor who can prove those specialists are vetted, insured, available and paid on time is the one the client trusts.

What clients look for at mini-competition

From the client and cost consultant side of the table, the scoring questions at call-off are rarely about the framework submission. They are about this scheme. A typical evaluation will probe:

• how design information will be controlled from tender to site, and how late design will be flagged

• which specialists are proposed for the critical packages, with current insurance and accreditation

• how changes will be instructed and valued, with an audit trail the client can follow

• how valuations will be certified and how subcontract payment will meet the 30-day term

• what visibility the client gets of design and procurement progress between progress meetings

Answering that with a method statement and a promise is the old approach. Answering it with live registers, trackers and certification records from the last call-off is the approach that wins repeat work.

A call-off readiness checklist

Before the first mini-competition lands on any new framework, a main contractor or developer should be able to produce the following inside a day:

1. Live drawing register and information release schedule (IRS) for a comparable recent scheme, showing what was issued late and how it was recovered.

2. Specialist shortlists per critical package, with PQQ status, insurance expiry dates and recent project references, refreshed at least quarterly.

3. A written record of who you relied on in each bid so section 72 does not catch you out when a package goes to tender post-award.

4. Tender and procurement tracker showing package issue dates, returns, clarifications and award dates against programme.

5. Variation log where every change has a number, an approval date and an instruction reference before it is priced into a valuation.

6. Valuation and certification schedule showing application, certificate and payment dates down the chain, so you can evidence 30-day compliance rather than assert it.

7. Your own KPI baseline: programme, defects at handover, payment performance and health and safety, measured the way a client would publish them.

If any of those lives in an inbox or a spreadsheet one person maintains, that is the first fix.

Where SubTrada fits

This is the work SubTrada's main-contracting account is built around. Drawings are bulk uploaded and auto-filed against an IRS tracker that flags late and on-time issue, tenders go out with drawings pulled from the same register, and procurement trackers build themselves as packages are issued. The subcontractor directory holds 4-tier PQQ status and live insurance expiry, and the client profile gives your employer visibility of design and procurement progress without a weekly export. Variations get an instruction number on approval, and valuation certification runs to a schedule you can show a client.

None of that wins the framework place. It gives you the evidence to win the call-off and keep the KPI record clean.

My view

In my experience framework appointments get far more celebration than they earn back in bid effort, unless the business is set up to convert. With 76 suppliers on one framework and a public KPI record following each call-off, the differentiator over the next four years will be procurement discipline you can show, not relationships you can describe. Pick one framework you sit on, pull the checklist above together for your most recent comparable scheme, and see how long it takes. That number tells you how ready you are.

FAQ

Does a framework place guarantee work?

No. A framework sets the terms and selection process for future call-offs. Each call-off is awarded either by direct award under an objective mechanism in the framework or by a competitive selection process, so work still has to be won scheme by scheme.

Can a client re-test my capacity at call-off stage under the Procurement Act 2023?

Yes, where the call-off uses a competitive selection process. Government guidance confirms clients can apply proportionate conditions of participation covering legal and financial capacity and technical ability for the specific call-off.

What KPIs apply to framework call-offs over £5m?

The client must generally set at least three KPIs for public contracts over £5m, including call-offs, publish them, and assess and publish performance at least annually and on termination. The framework itself is exempt.

Do 30-day payment terms apply to my subcontractors on a public call-off?

Section 73 implies 30-day payment terms into public sub-contracts, meaning contracts substantially for performing part of a public contract, and terms that try to override them have no effect. Concessions, private utility contracts and school contracts are excluded.