CONTRACT MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND ACCREDITATION

1 CONTRACT MANAGEMENTTRAINING AND ACCREDITATIONB uilding CONTRACT and supplier MANAGEMENT capability across the Public Sector Crown copyright 2020 Produced by Cabinet OfficeThis publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Alternative format versions of this publication are available on request from: Capability Across MANAGEMENT Professional Levels of Delivery Professional Salzedo Central government currently spends around 50bn on external contracts on a wide range of goods and services.

2 There are at least 30,000 civil servants spread across government departments supporting the MANAGEMENT of contracts and suppliers. These contracts underpin some of the most critical activities in government, including building roads and schools, maintaining our buildings and delivering front-line services such as prisons, benefit assessments, immigration enforcement and debt is therefore essential that we have the capability within the Civil Service to enable us to negotiate and manage contracts effectively, ensuring value for money and delivering better public services. The CONTRACT MANAGEMENT Capability Programme is a bespoke TRAINING programme that will train and accredit CONTRACT managers. The TRAINING has been designed by working with professional bodies and all government departments, to support you in driving greater efficiency and higher quality services.

3 By taking part, you will also have the opportunity to share best practice and be part of a professional network of CONTRACT managers. CONTRACT MANAGEMENT skills are needed to manage every aspect of the CONTRACT lifecycle, so whatever part of the CONTRACT you work on, by improving capability, we can make CONTRACT MANAGEMENT more efficient. This is an exciting time to be a CONTRACT manager in government. Building skills across our CONTRACT MANAGEMENT colleagues is critical to becoming the best commercial function in the country. from the Director of Commercial and CONTRACT MANAGEMENT Capability1 Building Capability Across Government Government is investing in TRAINING to support the development of staff who manage contracts, relationships with suppliers, grants and memoranda of understanding.

4 There are more than 30,000+ civil servants spread across government departments working on, or supporting, the MANAGEMENT of contracts and suppliers. 2 Benefits of raising capability By improving the capability of individuals managing contracts or suppliers through learning, development and formal ACCREDITATION , the public sector can achieve:-Greater efficiency by having confident individuals in place to manage risk and complexity-Better value through informed and timelier CONTRACT MANAGEMENT decision-making-Quality services and satisfied service usersAbout the programme The CONTRACT MANAGEMENT Capability Programme aims to help the government achieve better outcomes and value for money through informed and more timely CONTRACT MANAGEMENT learning and ACCREDITATION process has been developed with leading CONTRACT MANAGEMENT professionals from both the public and private sectors, and sets the baseline for improved CONTRACT lifecycle MANAGEMENT .

5 The programme provides individuals that are involved in the MANAGEMENT and delivery of contracts and suppliers with the appropriate learning and ACCREDITATION . This enables them to effectively and confidently manage contracts. The central UK Government currently spends around 50 billion on external contracts with the private sector3 CONTRACT MANAGEMENT Professional StandardsThe CONTRACT MANAGEMENT Professional Standards available on set out the competency requirements of CONTRACT managers across the public Standards form the basis of learning and ACCREDITATION across three levels; Foundation, Practitioner and Expert. They outline the behavioural competencies and technical skills required for those who manage public sector contracts to do so standards were developed by colleagues across government in collaboration with professional bodies and the Chartered Institute for Procurement and Supply (CIPS).

6 A key driver for developing professional standards for individuals managing contracts or relationships with suppliers is to introduce a common language across Government. These standards are to be used by anyone working in central government that carries out CONTRACT or supplier MANAGEMENT activities as part of their role, whether or not they identify as being a CONTRACT standards help individuals to understand their own (or their team?s) development needs and can be used as a tool for career progression and to inform development CONTRACT MANAGEMENT Professional Standards are to be applied alongside the Civil Service Competency Framework, the Civil Service Leadership Statement and the Civil Service Code. 4 Three Levels of AccreditationThere are three pathways to ACCREDITATION ; Foundation, Practitioner and Expert.

7 The pathway selected, and therefore the TRAINING and ACCREDITATION you require, depend on the type of CONTRACT and the activities you You should aim to achieve Expert-level ACCREDITATION if you lead the delivery of large-scale, complex contracts. The TRAINING programme is made up of the 15 Practitioner live subject matter led-workshops and pre-work, plus a further 8 expert workshops delivered over a total of 32 weeks. On completion of the learning you will attend a one-day assessment based on the covered should aim to achieve Foundation-level ACCREDITATION if you manage a relatively small and straightforward CONTRACT or you support others in the MANAGEMENT of a lower value CONTRACT . The TRAINING and assessment are online, giving you the flexibility to learn at a time that best suits you. PractitionerYou should aim to achieve Practitioner-level ACCREDITATION if you lead on (or support others in) the MANAGEMENT of medium-scale, medium complexity contracts.

8 The TRAINING programme is a mix of online learning pre-work and 15 virtual live subject matter led workshops delivered across 24 weeks. On completion of the learning you will attend a one-day assessment based on the covered the additional CONTRACT MANAGEMENT TRAINING will improve financial foresight, put in place better strategic arrangements and properly evaluate by value, rather than pure cost."Learning Delivery MethodologyLearning and development for Practitioners and Experts are built on the best practice 70:20:10 learning model. This means the Practitioner and Expert programmes include three types of learning: and development by experiential-based learning (70%) and development through others (20%) and development by formal structured learning (10%)Our programmes have been designed to be highly interactive, relevant and engaging.

9 You will have the opportunity to: -Directly apply what you are learning immediately in your day-job-Collaborate and learn from colleagues in different departments across Government -Interact with subject matter experts to grow your knowledge baseThe learning content will largely be the same for individuals going through the Practitioner or Expert programme. However, individuals on the Expert programme will complete an additional 8 workshops with a strategic focus. Progressing to Practitioner or Expert The first step in the journey is to achieve Foundation-level ACCREDITATION . All participants will complete the Foundation TRAINING and assessment to secure ACCREDITATION and ensure a common CONTRACT MANAGEMENT language, skill set and knowledge base. 6 Well-designed and well-structured materials. "Worthwhile, engaging and through real life by subject matter Foundation course will allow you to gain an understanding of all elements of the CONTRACT lifecycle, as outlined in the CONTRACT MANAGEMENT Professional is divided into six interactive modules, giving you the flexibility to learn at a time that best suits you and allowing you to balance the TRAINING with everyday work commitments.

10 After completion of the online Foundation TRAINING , you can attempt the Foundation-level assessment. On completion you will receive a report that confirms whether you have secured ACCREDITATION . Achieving ACCREDITATION will provide recognition for your CONTRACT MANAGEMENT expertise, as well as help with creating a common CONTRACT MANAGEMENT language, diverse knowledge base and skill set across government. Who is Foundation for?-You may have another ?day job? however, you engage from time-to-time with suppliers or take part in CONTRACT MANAGEMENT activities as part of your role-You may not be responsible for all activities relating to a CONTRACT -The supplier relationship or CONTRACT you manage may be lower value, lower complexity or lower riskFoundation-level8 TRAINING on the lifecycle of a CONTRACT will ensure I'm doing and thinking of the right things concerning the CONTRACT , providing greater confidence when renegotiating deliverables and terms.