NFB joins Kier in bid to win ProCure 21 job

Kier Health has selected the National Federation of Builders (NFB) as a primary supply chain member to support its bid to become a principal supply chain partner (PSCP) for NHS Estates'  ProCure 21 initiative.

This is the first time a trade association has taken on such a role. Michael Edwards, bid man-ager for Kier Health, said: "Work through ProCure 21 won't necessarily be distributed evenly across the UK, and although Kier has a good regional spread, if there is a lot of work in one area we might have capacity issues.

"The NFB has a very strong regional structure and can therefore provide us with the added capacity we may need.

"NHS Estates also wants to see the formation of a truly integrated supply chain with use of SMEs and local labour," he added.

Asked if Kier considered any other trade associations, Edwards said: "We focused on the NFB very quickly. We approached it as it has the size of membership we require - 3,000 medium-sized contractors."

NFB chief executive Barry Stephens said: "If Kier Health secures this, then contracts of up to £10m could be on offer to our member companies. These contracts are milk and honey for many of our members so we have agreed to become a primary supply chain member in the Kier bid to NHS Estates."

The programme will see about £1.4bn of NHS Estates capital work a year let through a handful of national framework packages, managed by PSCPs.

"Our role is to marshal those members who wish to participate. Kier will come to us for introductions," said Stephens.

"We are looking to ensure that all the companies involved in this initiative are suitably prepared.

Key to that is accreditation so that all the companies have in place the policies and procedures to equip them to participate.

"We will then work with them to assist them in getting better prepared and establishing a mechanism by which they can adopt continuous improvement."

If successful, the NFB aims to use this as a model, taking it to other sectors. "We could use it in the education sector, with local authorities or even with housing associations," said Stephens.

"There is also the possibility we might do something similar with private sector clients. We're no longer simply a trade federation. We're endeavouring to be a business solutions provider. I think the days of the traditional trade federation that provided a forum by which peers could meet and talk is no longer relevant.

"People that run businesses today expect value from the subscriptions that they pay and unless we can be commercially focused to justify that subscription, then we don't have a future," added Stephens.

Kier Health is one of 15 candidates bidding to become a framework partner for ProCure 21. The secretary of state is due to make an announcement on 29 August, when eight to 12 framework partners will be chosen.