AN UPDATED version of the Common Assessment Standard – the industry-agreed pre-qualification standard developed by Build UK – has been released.

Version 4 has been streamlined following the withdrawal of PAS 91 and updated to include a new Building Safety section. The Common Assessment Standard can be used to demonstrate that companies have the ‘organisational capability’ to fulfil their roles under the Building Safety Act.

Building Safety Act

Under the Act, anyone appointing individuals or organisations to undertake design and construction work has a duty to ensure they are competent. Clients and contractors can demonstrate compliance with this duty by specifying that organisations in their supply chain are certified to the Common Assessment Standard. It requires the appropriate management policies, procedures and systems to be in place.

Common Assessment Standard

In recent months, the Common Assessment Standard, which is endorsed by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), has reached a critical mass of companies using it across the sector. A growing list of major contractors and clients are now specifying the Common Assessment Standard for their supply chains. More than 22,500 suppliers have been certified against it by the 5 Recognised Assessment Bodies: Achilles, Constructionline, CQMS, SCCS and Veriforce CHAS.

Jo Fautley, Build UK Deputy Chief Executive, said: “By establishing the Common Assessment Standard, we have brought the whole sector together to transform the construction pre-qualification process, and everyone can play their part in improving efficiency, reducing cost and raising standards by using it.”

Common Assessment Standard for Public Sector

The use of the Common Assessment Standard for public sector work has been confirmed by Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 03/24 issued by the Cabinet Office. This specifies that the Common Assessment Standard should be used by contracting authorities when pre-qualifying suppliers for construction works contracts.

It says “contracting authorities should use the Common Assessment Standard, in place of the standard SQ template in pre-qualification of bidders” for works contracts and was published in March 2024.

John Simons, SCAPE Group Procurement Director, added: “Now that the Cabinet Office has specified the Common Assessment Standard for use across the public sector, it is more important than ever for companies to be certified. It has standardised the selection process for the supply chain as only one annual assessment is required to gain access to valuable opportunities, and the new streamlined Version 4 makes that process even simpler for companies of all sizes.”

Version 4 of the Common Assessment Standard was published on 1 July 2024 and suppliers will now complete the updated question set when going through the certification process.

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