Construction Minister Brian Wilson has told local authorities to stop judging construction project tenders on cost and to start looking for best value.

His comments, in Municipal Journal in February, are made in the light of a survey by Bath University of 60 public sector projects of more than £1million. Three quarters of them ended up over budget and two third were delivered late.

Perhaps the worst finding of the survey was that most councils did not even care. Only one said it was dissatisfied and the others did not realise they should expect anything better.

"This isn\'t good enough," said Brian Wilson in the Municipal Journal article. "The client is getting the supplier it deserves. A bad client will get a bad supplier. The whole public sector needs to demand more of the industry."It is crucial we get construction right. I am looking to local authorities, together with central Government, to help show the way forward and demonstrate real leadership. It is a commitment we must share if we are serious about Best Value."

\'Best Value\' is a theme of the Department of Trade & Industry\'s Rethinking Construction initiative that aims to use and adapt best principles and practices of other industries to get construction out of the habit of bidding low and charging high and generally promising much more than it delivers.

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