SCCS has been awarded a recognised assessment body status to offer certification to the Build UK Common Assessment Standard (CAS).

The Common Assessment Standard (CAS) is a standardised question set, which covers 10 key areas to assess a company’s competency. In 2024 the Cabinet Office published Procurement Policy Note 03/24 which removes reference to PAS 91 meaning the Common Assessment Standard should now be used for the pre-qualification of suppliers for construction works contracts in the public sector. Following the withdrawal of PAS 91 by BSI last year, central Government departments and wider public sector bodies can now only use the Common Assessment Standard as stated at paragraph 14: “For works contracts, including the procurement of mixed contracts that include supplies and services, contracting authorities should use the Common Assessment Standard (CAS), in place of the standard SQ template in pre-qualification of bidders.”

In order to prepare for an assessment and audit, a guide to the question set can be found on this page.

What are the benefits of achieving the Common Assessment Standard?

• Minimise duplication in the PQ assessment process, with many main contractors and clients adopting CAS
• Ensures competitive tenders
• Demonstrates competency, compliance and reduced risk
• Data will be shared with other accredited suppliers to minimise the need to complete numerous assessments
• Reduce time and resources with a standard PQ process

The SCCS Common Assessment Offering:

There are assessment levels available and the most appropriate is allocated depending on the various business factors which include trade, size of company, requirements of the client. This will be discussed with you upon application.

• SCCS Build Assured CAS Lite?– this is a remote desktop audit of the information provided in the assessment form

• SCCS Build Assured CAS Elite?– this is a site-based audit of the company being accredited where the assessor will visit the premises to ensure the company can demonstrate that policies and evidence provided is being put into business practice. This will provide contractors and clients the assurance that the requirements have been met and are being implemented for the accreditation

Once the appropriate option has been determined for your company, the CAS assessment questions will need to be completed along with the submission of supporting evidence. An auditor will then be appointed to manage the next stage of the process and either review the information remotely or arrange a site visit to review policies and demonstrable compliance within the organisation.

To maintain CAS accreditation, SCCS will carry out annual audits to verify all information remains acceptable to meet requirements and that time-critical evidence and certifications have been renewed, maintained and submitted.

We are a micro-business – is Common Assessment Standard appropriate?

All companies, of all sizes are encouraged to undertake and achieve CAS certification.

Assessment standards will be applied in a fair manner for a micro business with less than ten employees or have a balance sheet total of less than £1.8 million or have a turnover below £1.8 million.

Request Data Sharing

A growing list of major contractors and clients are specifying the Common Assessment Standard for their PQ requirements, meaning that members of their supply chains need to obtain just one certification in order to tender for work with them. All suppliers who have completed the Common Assessment Standard with any of the Recognised Assessment Bodies can request a secure transfer of CAS data between the Recognised Assessment Bodies with no additional fee incurred - all you need to do if following the steps below.

Step One

Contact your assessment body using one of the links below to advise you have requested data transfer. This will alert them that one of the Team at SCCS will be contacting them to start the process.

• Notify Achilles
• Notify CHAS
• Notify Compliance Chain
• Notify Constructionline
• Notify CQMS
• Notify SMAS