Constructionline claims £165m annual savings

However, it reckons that it could save five times that amount if all construction buyers and suppliers were to streamline the pre-qualification process of their procurement procedures.

A Constructionline survey found that a single pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) takes a construction supplier an average of 4.5 hours to complete, costing an average of £147 in lost time. For a typical business, the annual cost could run into thousands of pounds, it said.

For construction clients, sifting through PQQs and keeping information also takes time. It costs construction buyers £300 in time, staffing and administration to review one PQQ, according to the survey.

Constructionline said that more than 250,000 searches for suppliers’ information were made last year by buyers through its database.

It claims to have helped its 8,000 buyers and 22,000 suppliers reduce PQQ duplication, which equates to efficiency savings of around £150m.  In addition to the reduced duplication, Constructionline estimates that by helping clients with their advertising processes and opening up opportunities for suppliers, it has delivered efficiency savings in excess of £15m.

By requesting suppliers’ Constructionline membership numbers when advertising a new opportunity, suppliers can bypass stage one of the PQQ - saving both parties time. In the last year, buyers have used this process to find new suppliers on at least 500 adverts.

Philip Prince, sales and marketing director at Constructionline, said: “In the last year alone, we have helped our members make efficiency savings in excess of £165 million, which raises the question of how much more could be saved if the entire industry adopted more efficient tendering processes.

“We know from surveys carried out among our own suppliers that tendering for new work opportunities is time consuming, especially when you consider that 40% of our suppliers said they win one in 10 of those contracts they apply for. If we can take away the burden of having to fill out the first stage of the pre-qualification process, we can save suppliers essential time that could otherwise be spent earning.”

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