The consortium is made up of Aecom, Gleeds and Pick Everard and is the first time a joint venture has been picked by the procurement body.

Worth £350m over four years, the Built Environment Consultancy Services framework will provide consultancy services to the public sector.

The new framework brings together the services available under Scape’s two existing frameworks: the National Asset Management, Surveying & Design Services framework; and the National Project Management and Quantity Surveying framework.

Scape said the decision to merge the two frameworks together was due to a number of challenges facing the industry.

“[These] include a shortage of internal industry specialists and an increased demand for consultancy expertise against a backdrop of sustained budgetary challenges,” it said.

Around 150 SMEs will support the consortium as supply chain partners.

Scape chief executive Mark Robinson said: “Every single day our public sector clients have to balance two competing forces – the rising demand for services from a growing population and, on the other hand, diminishing internal resources.

“In the current uncertain economic climate, rapid appointment, access to the right skills and advice to get the best from the public estate will be absolutely critical, which is why we have created this new all-encompassing framework, which has been uniquely designed to deliver exceptional results to our public sector colleagues.”

Perfect Circle was up against a consortium of Arcadis, Bilfinger GVA, Faithful & Gould and Grant Thornton and individual bids from Mace and Turner & Townsend, as revealed by Construction News in July.

Mr Robinson said it was a closely fought battle, which saw Scape extend its 10-day standstill period to feedback in depth to the unsuccessful bidders.