SCAPE Procurement Director appointed as new NACF Chair

Having worked in public sector procurement for more than 35 years, John is committed to maintaining and improving the highest procurement standards and ethical practice.

The NACF is a collaborative membership organisation, comprising the following regional public sector frameworks, and SCAPE which operates nationally;

• Constructing West Midlands (CWM)
• Midlands Highways Alliance
• North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO)
• North Wales Construction Partnership
• North West Construction Hub
• Southern Construction Framework (SCF)
• South East & Mid Wales Collaborative Construction Frameworks (SEWSCAP)
• South West Wales Regional Contractors Framework
• YORhub

The NACF was formed in 2014 to drive innovation, quality, efficiency, and sustainability across the built environment. It encourages greater collaboration between framework providers and acts as a collective voice for public procurement professionals across the UK.

Its members share a commitment to social value and outcomes-based procurement and are actively involved in shaping the future of construction.

The NACF's member attributes, which are the criteria that an organisation must meet in order to join, set ambitious but achievable standards for collaborative procurement, and are recognised by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Cabinet Office as setting best practice standards in the built environment.

Since its formation, the NACF has been chaired by Keith Heard from Southern Construction Framework, who was elected to help grow and strengthen the NACF's reach, voice and influence.

Under Keith's leadership, the NACF has become a nationally recognised body which has delivered step change improvements throughout the generations of its members' frameworks, for the benefit of their clients and communities.

"I would like to thank Keith for leading the group to date, and I look forward to working more closely with the NACF members as we continue to drive positive change in public sector procurement," he continued.

2024 marks the NACF's 10-year anniversary, and in January, John Simons, SCAPE Group Procurement Director, was elected by members to lead the group.

SCAPE and our legacy Regional Construction framework was one of the first NACF members, and we are delighted that John will be able to bring his wealth of experience in public sector procurement best practice to the group as Chair.

John is committed to maintaining and improving the highest procurement standards across the industry, encouraging the skills and knowledge sharing needed across frameworks to help support clients with wider challenges such as decarbonisation or tackling modern slavery.