A £4bn government framework for consultants has been hit by delays after been swamped by applications

Invitations to tender should have been issued by the Buying Solutions department of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) on 3 August. They were released this week, almost two months late.

Last week it was reported that the announcement of a shortlist for the Department of Health’s Procure 21+ framework would be put back from 22 October to 11 November after it was hit by a similar wave of applications.

The consultancy services framework will bring together a number of existing agreements focusing on procurement and advice on project and programme management. It is separate to the project management framework finalised earlier this summer.

It is due to replace the organisational and functional consultancy frameworks, which expire on 30 November. Turner & Townsend, Capital Project Consultancy and Mouchel are among its suppliers.

A spokesperson for Buying Solutions said: “It is best practice to build some fluidity into the timings of procurement, particularly with very popular frameworks where interest can be very high. However, we remain confident that the framework will go live by the end of the year, or early in the new year.”