MoD – Commercial and Contract Management Training for UK Naval Bases

The scope of the project involved:

• FM Contract Review – challenges with legacy contract arrangements and how they were currently being managed
• Stakeholder engagement to understand the behaviours and performance of client and suppliers
• Capability and Training Needs Analysis – reviewing existing FM roles, knowledge, experience and training histories
• Senior Stakeholder workshops to communicate our FM Contract Management and Relationship building approach
• Design and delivery of Bespoke Training Programme, real FM contract examples and BPG FM experience case studies to bring learning to life
• Unique course content addressing supplier ‘Expert Responsibilities’ and ‘Duty to Warn’ 

Phase 1 – Discovery Exercise

To inform our training plan design/delivery we carried out a Discovery exercise to fully understand the MoD’s FM contracts, training requirements and outcomes, this involved:

• Senior Stakeholder engagement to understand the required outcomes and the legacy challenges preventing those outcomes
• Reviewing the new contracts and identifying any risks or challenges they may pose and seeking clarity on their implementation/maturity
• Reviewing a representative sample of existing FM contracts to identify what was working well, any challenges/ambiguities/service delivery problems and how they were being managed
• Gathering examples of real (legacy & new) FM contract scenarios to be used to tailor training content
• Reviewing the MoD’s learning objectives/outcomes, understand what training had already been delivered, such as GCF Contract Management, and seek feedback on how effective it had been, ensuring our approach had the required impact
• Conduct Capability Baselining Survey to understand current contract and relationship management knowledge, particularly supplier ‘Expert Responsibilities’ and soft skills e.g. internal FM team collaboration & FM supplier management collaboration

Phase 2 – Training Design

Following analysis of the Discovery outputs, we agreed on the learning outcomes, the performance measures for assessing impact in the live FM environment and the implementation plan, prioritising groups with pressing contractual challenges.

We designed and produced FM specific contract management training content including examples of specific issues the FM teams faced in dealing with suppliers and we built in how these scenarios can be dealt with using supplier ‘Expert Responsibilities’ and ‘Duty to Warn’.

We prepared BPG case studies from our FM and wider contract management experience to evidence the theory in practice and to show how BPG tools/templates enable the application of our methodology.

Each element of the MoD’s requirements had a distinct training module, aligning learning objectives with the desired outcomes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of FM contracts and encourage better, more productive relationships with suppliers. Training modules included: Encouraging Accountable Strategic Supplier Behaviour, Collaboration & Innovation, Managing FM Contract Delivery, Stakeholder Engagement, Supplier Management, Working with Ambiguity and Conflict Resolution & Negotiating.

Phase 3 – Training Delivery

We delivered a series of FM Contract & Relationship Management Training sessions and workshops to 250 FM Contract Managers and Senior Stakeholders, from Naval Bases across the UK.

The training was heavily evidence-based and delivered by expert practitioners experienced in the application of our methodology, tools and techniques on problematic FM contracts and the procurement of and contracting with new FM providers. We used real FM contract scenario examples, from our FM Consultancy experience and from the MoD’s legacy FM contracts, to tailor modules for each group to ensure training was highly relevant and could be applied in a meaningful way and be carried through into the live environment.