Procurement and Risk progress

Good procurement practices are essential to high performance in the sector. The plan focuses on building procurement skills, promoting clearer contracts, and a better deal for subcontractors.

Improving procurement practices and people's understanding of risk in the sector will contribute to the Accord goals of increasing productivity, raising capability, and improving resilience. Specific outcomes in the Accord targeted are to enable quality durable builds, value for money, fair risk allocation and a collaborative industry.

Find out what procurement and risk initiatives are in the Transformation Plan.

Initiative progress and milestones

Follow progress here on Accord and Transformation Plan programmes that will work to improve procurement practices in the sector.

Date	Milestone	Lead/s
In development	Reviewing the standard form NZS3910, focusing on transparency, sub-contractor protections and standardisations.	Civil Contractors New Zealand
In development	Developing a panel of suitably qualified engineers to the contract to ensure expertise and independence in project decision making.	Engineering New Zealand
In development	Developing guidance on incorporating sustainability into procurement activity, to support the measurement of whole-of-life embodied carbon and share practices on driving more sustainable construction processes.	MBIE (New Zealand Government Procurement)
Dec 2021	The Accord published the construction procurers capability framework to describe the capabilities which are important for those undertaking or supporting procurement needs on a project, and will use this framework to develop training to meet capability gaps across the sector. Capability framework for construction and infrastructure procurers [PDF, 1.5 MB]	Accord, MBIE (New Zealand Government Procurement)
Aug 2020	The Accord published the Contract Partnering Agreement [PDF, 118 KB] as a standard of expectations to support client and main contractors working together, and the Rapid Mobilisation Playbook(external link) to provide practical guidance in accelerating projects.	Accord, MBIE (New Zealand Government Procurement) and Aurecon
April 2020	The Accord worked with industry and government agencies to develop a fair and consistent position on the treatment of contract variations resulting from the Covid-related lockdown [PDF, 758 KB].	Accord
Jan 2020	Accord Steering Group commit to complying with the subcontractor payment retentions scheme and in addition, to hold retention money in a separate account to better protect it, and to proactively share retention accounting records.	Accord
Sept 2019	Government Construction Procurement Guidelines(external link) updated with changes aimed at improving project briefs and risk transparency, and at shifting the focus from lowest price tenders to best long-term value. The general Procurement Rules were also updated, and these now require agencies to follow the Guidelines for projects over $9 million, and to submit an assessment of their overall procurement performance to MBIE so areas for improvement, including in construction, can be identified.	MBIE (New Zealand Government Procurement)