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Repeated tendering, inconsistent standards and rising costs are slowing retail rollouts. Foot Anstey discusses how framework agreements can cut the friction – delivering faster programmes, tighter cost control and scalable execution – in order to:
- Reduce procurement drag and accelerate high-volume rollout programmes
- Improve cost certainty and consistency through standardised terms and committed suppliers
- Strengthen resilience and collaboration with long-term, performance-driven supplier partnerships
Delivering multiple construction projects across portfolios requires efficiency, consistency and control. Traditional procurement methods can be slow, fragmented and costly, involving different contractors, consultants, terms, payment models and designs for each project.
This can lead to inconsistent quality, work duplication, delays and cost overruns.
Framework agreements allow retailers to:
- Front-load the work involved in setting up and managing pipelines
- Create a ‘go-to’ list of suppliers that can be instructed quickly and easily
- Drive efficiencies, consistency and control
What are framework agreements?
- Umbrella agreements between a retailer and one or more suppliers
- Generally have a set term
- Allow suppliers to be instructed on pre-agreed terms and rates without ‘full’ procurements for each project
- Include pre-agreed processes for instructing works and services
- Can be tailored to suit any programme of works and services
The terms for potential instructions are specified at the tender stage. Suppliers must commit to these upfront to reduce the time, cost and effort required to finalise an instruction for a project, but also allow for genuinely project-specific amendments.
Why use them?
1. Speed
Instructions can be issued quickly using a pre-agreed process where the rules of engagement are established upfront without needing multiple ‘full’ processes.
This is essential on repeatable, high-volume programmes, where time to market or operation is critical, such as fit-outs or standardised new builds.
2. Predictability
Sharing a proposed works programme with suppliers upfront allows them to manage capacity and resource planning – improving supply chain resilience and reducing delay risk – and gives the market confidence that the framework is worth pursuing.
3. Cost
Suppliers benefit from multi-project opportunities during the term of a framework. By aggregating demand and standardising specifications, retailers can leverage frameworks to secure competitive pricing from day one without compromising quality, thereby driving cost certainty and budget management. Rebate or discount mechanisms can also be used.
4. Quality
Work is awarded based on performance, so suppliers are motivated to deliver quality and continuously improve.
Frameworks allow suppliers to become fluent in a retailer’s design standards, operational protocols and onboarding, training and safety requirements during its terms, as well as what is important to them.
This consistency allows for projects to be managed simultaneously using a pre-defined playbook, driving improved delivery, cost control and a reduction in defects at completion.
5. Collaboration
Frameworks promote mutually beneficial long-term relationships from day one. Retailers depend on suppliers for timely, on-budget delivery, while suppliers depend on retailers for repeat work.
This can lead to:
- Economies of scale/bulk purchasing
- Design standardisation
- Value engineering
- Improved sequencing
- Shorter delivery times and lower costs.
6. Risk management
The pre-approval of suppliers can reduce risk exposure on matters such as:
- Financial stability
- Health and safety
- Legal compliance
Regular reviews during the framework term can also flag potential issues early.
The use of pre-agreed terms (eg: amended Joint Contracts Tribunal forms or bespoke consultant terms) reduces the back-and-forth on terms and promotes consistency. Key issues can be flushed out pre-framework, allowing the parties to agree on commercially acceptable terms upfront.
This allows parties to manage any issues that are genuinely project-specific on a case-by-case basis.
Whether supporting the construction of new build stores or fulfilment centres, or a rebranding rollout, frameworks provide a real opportunity to:
- Reduce procurement friction
- Promote efficiency, consistency and control
- Deliver projects faster, more predictably and with greater cost certainty
- Focus on long-term collaborative relationships, without sacrificing quality and value
They can also provide a crucial competitive advantage in a continually evolving and fast-moving sector.
Simon Stubbs is Principal Director in Foot Anstey’s retail construction team.
Liz Graham is a Trainee Solicitor at Foot Anstey.
