procurement guide - partnering overview
Partnering is both a procurement route and a tendering process. Although now well defined and much written about, it is still misunderstood by many professionals and contractors alike, who consider that they have been partnering with their clients long before Egan, having had longstanding and ongoing relationships with clients for a considerable number of years. However, in many cases this is not partnering in the style championed in 1998 by The Egan Report, Rethinking Construction.
Partnering seeks to create relationships between members of the whole project team including the client, design team , contractor(s) and the underlying supply chain. This creates a framework to deliver demonstrable (through KPIs) and continuing economies over time from: better design and construction; lower risk; less waste (time, material, etc); and as a result avoid disputes. Partnering workshops provide for better knowledge, communication, sharing, education and team building to create a much more purposeful relationship than merely continuing to work together with a client.
Egan's Partnering is discussed more fully at the end of this procurement guide.