The business case for supply-chain integration is supported by the weight of evidence that material benefits have arisen in almost every instance where the parties have taken active and purposeful steps to collaborate, was the conclusion presented to the Strategic Forum for Construction when it met to review a report by one of its task groups on the business case for supply-chain integration.

The report was presented by Martin Nielsen, chairman of the task group and commercial director of Scott Wilson, with the caveat: ‘Nevertheless, the culture of the industry, the proliferation of bespoke contracts, the focus on lowest price and many other issues are providing significant barriers to its wider adoption.’ [of supply-chain integration]

Mike Davies, chairman of the forum, comments, ‘Greater integration is the key to delivering the world-class projects that Sir John Egan believed our industry was capable of delivering far more consistently than we do at present. The task group has confirmed that there is a strong business case for developing integrated teams and supply chains and provided some very persuasive case studies to support this.

‘The tools for those wishing to adopt an integrated approach are freely available. The priority is to encourage more people to engage in this way of working. To encourage this, I am keen that we now build up a larger portfolio of case studies and, along with the other recommendations of the task group, make a real effort to increase the percentage of projects that are undertaken in this way.’

The task group made three main recommendations.

• Accelerate the promotion of the business case for integrated working across all stakeholders.
• Significantly reduce the number of contract forms in circulation and eliminate bespoke contracts.
• Find new commercial levers to encourage wider adoption in the private sector.
• Update training programmes for undergraduates and young professionals.

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