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CHAS
Contracting Authorities in the United Kingdom’s public sector must prepare to assess supply chains using the Common Assessment Standard (CHAS Elite) or PAS 91 (CHAS Advanced) following the government’s release of Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 03/23 which updates the Selection Questionnaire and replaces PPN 08/16.
The changes, which come into effect from 1 April 2023, mean that contractors looking to win public sector contracts will need to show compliance not only with SSIP and health and safety requirements but with a broader range of standards as covered in the Common Assessment Standard (CHAS Elite) and PAS 91 (CHAS Advanced) accreditations.
The Common Assessment Standard (CHAS Elite), launched in 2019 is a comprehensive industry-approved questionnaire that has quickly become the elite standard for prequalification in construction procurement. Specifying the Common Assessment Standards means, via a single assessment, organisations can assess the capability of their suppliers across 13 pertinent compliance topics, including: Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Building Information Modelling (BIM), Data Protection, Equality & Diversity, Financial Information, Modern Slavery and Quality, Corporate Social Responsibility, Information Management and Information Security.
Meanwhile, PAS 91 (CHAS Advanced) is a standardised prequalification questionnaire (PQQ) developed by the British Standards Institute (BSI), that goes beyond SSIP to cover some of the topics included in the Common Assessment Standard.
The changes will give CHAS Contractors who are already qualified to CHAS Elite and CHAS Advanced access to a wider range of work, and incentivise contractors who have yet to pass the assessments to raise compliance standards.
CHAS is providing free resources and templates to assist support contractors in upgrading to new levels of accreditation, with contracting authorities and private sector companies looking to source responsible contractors also able to do so via the organisation’s jobs board which includes the ability to search by specific or multiple trades, desired assessment level, location and radius.
The updates to Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 08/16 are a clear signal of the government’s commitment to responsible public procurement …
CHAS managing director, Ian McKinnon, says: “The updates to Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 08/16 are a clear signal of the government’s commitment to responsible public procurement and a further incentive for contractors to strive for greater levels of compliance.
“We are proud of the huge number of CHAS Contractors already accredited to the Common Assessment Standard (CHAS Elite) and PAS 91 (CHAS Advanced) and of the many more who are currently working with CHAS towards reaching these standards.
“At CHAS, we believe the industry must work together to raise levels of supply chain risk management, and as ever, we are ready to support organisations looking to source responsible suppliers via our free CHAS Client portal.”
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