Helpful Information

At EKFB, we believe in open and inclusive procurement to help promote healthy competition in our supply chain. We are committed to providing as much advanced information as possible to create a level playing field for our prospective tenderers while supporting HS2 readiness.  

 

How to prequalify

To build a safe, competent, and compliant supply chain we have set our minimum standards high with regards to industry accreditation requirements. 

It’s important to us that you have robust management systems in place to manage the health, safety and wellbeing of your workforce, the quality of the services or products you deliver, and the environment in which you operate. We recognise UKAS ISO certification (ISO45001, ISO9001, and ISO14001 respectively) as the benchmark for management system maturity and it’s desirable that our supply chain hold these certifications where appropriate. 

For subcontracting, EKFB adopts the Common Assessment Standard (CAS), a standardised industry prequalification questions agreed by Build UK, and we have partnered with Constructionline as our preferred third-party verification partner of the CAS. All Subcontractors in the C23 supply chain must be CAS verified to deliver works on our sites. 

If your business is not currently accredited by Constructionline, please register and apply for certification.

 

How to bid 

To participate in our tenders and become a member of the EKFB approved supply chain, please monitor the opportunities tab of this CompeteFor partnership site and submit your expression of interest in any relevant packages before the opportunity deadline. 

EKFB adopts a value-based approach to procurement to ensure cost, quality, and sustainability are all weighted considerations in our award criteria. 

In readiness to tender for opportunities on C23, you can increase your competitiveness by just understanding and being able to articulate your overall value proposition. Here are some key themes to help you do this: 

  • Safety, Health and Wellbeing – This is paramount to the way EKFB works and as such we expect our supply chain partners to be committed to improving working practises and promoting positive safety, health and wellbeing activities.   
  • Technical competence – Technical competence forms a critical part of our procurement process to ensure suppliers selected are suitable to deliver the works and are able to demonstrate industry best practise.  
  • Sustainability and legacy benefits – Return on investment and legacy after HS2 is a key driver in our balanced scorecard. We are looking for suppliers who are able to commit to positive sustainability and legacy activities such as employing apprentices and working with businesses local to the HS2 route.
  • Innovation – We are looking to create an innovative supply chain to address the challenges we face as an industry and continuously look for news ways of working.  

 

How we expect our supply chain to perform

To enable a high performing supply chain, we have developed a framework of key performance indicators (KPIs) specifically for C23.  

This KPI framework includes a set of quantitative measures to: 

  • Provide a transparent, consistent, and objectivity approach to assessing supply chain performance 
  • Deliver more targeted and tangible performance outcomes 

 

Relevant training

In collaboration with HS2, the other main works civils contractors and the Supply Chain Sustainability School, we have developed a suite of useful resources that will help our supply chain ready themselves for delivering products, works and services on this complex mega project. 

We recommend you engage with the Supply Chain Sustainability School and participate in the HS2 Learning Legacy pathways at the earliest opportunity. 

Homepage – HS2 Learning Legacy 

 

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For more information visit www.ekfb.com

 

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