The SFT has developed a toolkit for developing community benefits in construction contracts, which includes an easy-to-use methodology for developing a project-specific community benefit project plan, legal drafting, monitoring procedures, and approach to tendering. The toolkit aims to enhance community benefits through infrastructure investment. It is a new requirement for all public bodies under the Procurement Reform Act 2014 and is issued by the SPPN. The toolkit is available online and can be used for self-assessment of skills and capability of the Senior Responsible Officer and lead PM for new projects. The tool provides a consistent skillset assessment with defined competency levels aligned to project-specific complexity. It identifies a skills gap and can support the identification of additional resources and/or investment in a project team. The toolkit is mandatory for all public bodies within the SP Finance Manual and is included in the construction manual. It can help support the development of better briefs, budgets, and assess VfM, and drive efficient sharing of validated benchmark information of delivered schools, health centers, and offices.
