DAI and Partner IMC Honoured for Outstanding Relationship with Subcontractors

September 12, 2016

DAI Europe Ltd. and joint venture partner IMC Worldwide recently won top honour from the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) for supplier excellence in the category of “Fair Treatment of Subcontractors.”

The DAI/IMC consortium was cited at DFID’s annual Commercial High Recognition Awards for work on the four-year Evidence on Demand (EoD) programme, a resource centre and knowledge-sharing community for climate, environment, infrastructure, and livelihoods that includes a call-down facility for DFID staff worldwide to procure technical support. DAI’s consortium of 41 subcontractors—which has stayed intact over the entire project—includes academic institutions, nongovernment organizations, and niche consulting firms. Most are enterprises of fewer than 250 employees, with many locally owned and operated in the countries where DFID provides assistance.

(From left, Catherine Hill of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, Polly Gillingham of DAI Europe Ltd., Kate Conroy of IMC Worldwide, Justine Currell of Unseen UK, and Nick Ford, DFID Head of Procurement and Commercial.)

“EoD is required to deliver a high-quality, rapid response service, so it is vital for us to provide subcontractors with clear and transparent processes,” according to DAI’s Cathy Shaw, the DAI/IMC consortium manager. “All opportunities are shared with all of our consortium members; this equality of opportunity allows the EoD programme to ensure that DFID can choose from a range of high-quality options. Under EoD, all suppliers, including DAI/IMC, operate within one set of pre-agreed fee bands. This creates a transparent and level playing field, with all of our partners well informed commercially and treated fairly.”

DAI/IMC subcontractors work under a single consortium agreement—defining commitments, responsibilities, obligations, and DFID compliance requirements. The agreement details how consortium members are paid and their requirements for duty of care, tax, and anti-corruption protocols. All processes are compliant with the established DAI ISO 9001:2015 Quality Manual.

Sixty-seven percent of DFID advisers rated the EoD service as Very Good or Excellent at delivering call-down contracts. This is illustrated via the multiple repeat requests DAI/IMC receives from DFID offices and advisers in Bangladesh, Kenya, Tanzania, Montserrat, St. Helena, and Sierra Leone, amongst other countries.

At the annual DAI/IMC consortium meetings, subcontractors are encouraged to voice concerns and provide feedback. The consortium has delivered a stable and well-used group of responsive subcontractors, many of whom have gone on to play important technical and managerial roles in local DFID-supported programmes worldwide.