Constructionline loses major client

The Housing Corporation will no longer recommend the government's contractor pre-qual database Constructionline to its 2,000 members after labelling it "too restrictive".

CJ learned of the decision through a leaked internal memo sent to all members of the corporation by chief executive Norman Perry.

Perry said that although the corporation supported Constructionline, it decided it was time to open up other alternatives for members to use to select their contractors.

One unnamed source told CJ that the corporation had lost its patience with the database, finding it too constrained on areas such as the inclusion of ethnic minorities.

Ironically, Constructionline revealed last month that it was linking up with the Commission for Racial Equality to ensure that equal opportunities played a major part in registration to the scheme.

The insider added that the corporation, one of Construct-ionline's biggest clients, had also learnt that some of those accredited on the system were insolvent and seriously lacked good health and safety practice.

The corporation's decision to break its formal ties with Constructionline will come as a blow to the scheme after it saw an upturn in users producing long lists in 2002 of 117,909, compared with 111,595 in 2001.

There have been 31,379 long-lists produced in the first quarter of 2003 compared to 29,251 in the first quarter of 2002.

No figures are available on how many of the corporation's members use the system.

The two other pre-qual database providers open to the industry, Achilles and Exor, claim a record amount of interest since they challenged the government earlier this year to open up Constructionline to other parties.

In a trade and industry select committee hearing on retentions last week, Mark Gibson, director general of the business group at the Department of Trade and Industry, said that he welcomed other competitors to Constructionline and saw no threat to the scheme.