New guidelines give UK steel manufacturers a public sector boost

New procurement guidelines for public sector projects have been introduced in a bid to help British steel manufacturers. The guidelines impose a duty to consider the environmental impact of transportation of goods and the conditions for workers during production.

Under the new rules, 'Procurement policy note: procuring steel in major projects', contractors will be forced to reveal where steelwork will be sourced when bidding for major publicly-funded projects with a capital value of more than £10m.

Those making purchasing decisions will not, however, have to look at carbon footprint or compliance with health and safety standards. They will be required to take into account social factors, such as the inclusion of disadvantaged workers and programmes to develop unskilled employees.

According to Construction Enquirer, the government has introduced the rules in order to level the playing field between UK steel manufacturers and their overseas competitors, particularly the Chinese. China has been accused of undermining the market by selling steel for less than the cost of production.

As major steel operations have been closed in the past few weeks, there has been criticism over the failure to use exclusively UK steel in projects such as HS2 and Crossrail. The new guidelines are said to be as much as the UK can do to support its producers within EU and World Trade Organization rules.

The new rules have been developed by the Steel Procurement Working Group and introduced as an emergency measure to address further threats to the UK steel industry.

From now on, tier one contractors must set out which steel supplier will be used. Where a supplier is not appointed until after contract award, an open advertisement must be placed inviting suppliers to apply.