7 October 2016 | Jamie Harris

The government has begun a tender process for its Estates Professional Services agreement.

The current framework, which covers a number of services including estates and property management, estates strategy and building surveying services, is due to expire on 31 March 2017.

Current suppliers include Mouchel Ltd (now Kier), JLL, Lambert Smith Hampton LLP and DTZ (now Cushman and Wakefield UK).

The framework covers central and local government property, with an objective to identify savings and rationalise the public sector estate.

It also adheres to government’s plan to reduce barriers to SME participation; it has set a target for 33 per cent of spending to reach SME organisations by 2020, although a National Audit Office report released earlier this year stated that barriers are still present within the current set up.

More information on the Estates Professional Services framework can be found here.