The new ISO/TC 59 subcommittee on construction procurement

At the 2014 Plenary in Toronto, ISO/TC 59 took a resolution to establish SC 18 "Construction procurement" and invite the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) to host the secretariat.

SABS accepted the invitation, and in late April, ISO/TMB approved the establishment of SC 18 with the following scope:

Standardisation of procurement processes, methods and procedures for the delivery and maintenance of construction works excluding those relating to:

conditions of contract; and
methods of measurement associated with a bill of quantities.

SABS' nomination of Dr Ron Watermeyer for the chairmanship was approved by the ISO/TC 59 members this June. Dr Watermeyer was the convenor of the now disbanded ISO/TC 59/WG 2 "Construction procurement", which developed the 8-part standards series ISO 10845. These standards have now been transferred to the new SC 18.

The published ISO 10845 standards provide a number of procurement processes, procedures and methods primarily aimed at putting a contract in place and measuring key performance indicators relating to the participation of targeted enterprises and targeted labour in the performance of a contract. The objective of the procurement standards is to provide a generic and standard set of processes, procedures and methods for a procurement system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective. It currently does not provide methods and procedures relating to design competitions and so it will now be up to the new SC 18 to look into expanding the series.

The development of complimentary standards establishing the processes and procedures relating to the project life cycle which are intrinsically linked to procurement processes is something that is likely to be discussed in the new SC 18, as well as standards relating to "sustainable procurement" in the context of delivering and maintaining construction works. There is also an opportunity to develop standards relating to the development of a procurement policy and control framework to effectively implement parts of ISO 10845 and the development of procurement strategies that enable a strategic approach to be taken to procurement.

The subcommittee will meet in Madrid in October in conjunction with the scheduled ISO/TC 59 Advisory Group meeting.