Guidance

Civil Service: helping you with managing contracts and suppliers

Updated 29 October 2025

1. About the programme

The government, service users, communities and citizens all expect value for money and service efficiency from public contracts each year in key services such as construction of schools and hospitals, infrastructure, defence, roads, rail, the justice system, housing, emergency services, NHS and the delivery and regulation of front-line services for local residents. Suppliers of various sizes and definitions need to be managed effectively.

Are you new to managing contracts in the public sector or newly into a contract management role?

For some guidance and signposting to resources, training and support click here: Support for those new to managing contracts or new in role as a contract manager

Training, developing and accrediting public sector contract managers to enable this is important. High profile contract failures such as Carillion, the Post Office IT system, and health sector PPI are in the public domain, and we must guard against future occurrences.

Providing training, accreditation, development and championing good practice, the Contract Management Capability Programme (pdf, 512 kb) within Government Commercial Function has been running since 2018. It forms a fundamental part of the Government’s commitment to investing in training & development to help public sector contract management professionals better manage contracts and relationships with suppliers.

The Programme provides a structured set of courses. These are:

Foundation training & accreditation programme

The baseline accreditation in contract management. Ideal for everyone entering a role which includes the management of public sector contracts and suppliers.

Beyond Foundation development programme

A series of nine stand-alone videos, each of which elaborate on key contract management themes, ideal for topping up knowledge.

Practitioner training & accreditation programme

A newly-redesigned accreditation training programme for anyone who manages medium and medium-high risk and value contracts (silver) with 6-12 months experience.

Expert training & accreditation programme

A newly-redesigned, strategic-level, accreditation training programme for experienced people managing high and very high risk and value (gold) contracts.

Contract management for senior responsible owners

The newly-redesigned executive-level development course is available to publicly-appointed senior responsible owners, and contract leads who work in contract management.

2. The benefits of the programme

The programme offers accreditations that are transferable across central government departments and the wider public sector. It focuses specifically on UK government contracts. 

Learners will benefit from:

• increased knowledge and skills that can be practised and demonstrated back in the workplace
• a transferable accreditation across the public sector 
• a significant skills and knowledge boost
• CPD Standards Office endorsed

For organisations, the benefits of the programme are very evident:

• accredited staff demonstrates that the organisation has skilled personnel leading its projects and managing its contracts and suppliers
• trained and accredited staff mitigates risk against gold and silver tiered contracts
• participating in the programme reinforces an organisation’s commitment to training and development
• the programme modules are online so learners can balance their learning with their workload and workplace commitments
• learners can use their knowledge to make savings and contract efficiencies
• an exclusive focus on UK public sector contracts

3. Programme successes

Since the capability development programmes were introduced, there have been a number of successes. 

In 2025 alone, the combined savings from those contract managers who completed accredited programmes was forecast to be as high as £180 million across a range of contracts.

These successes also include, for example:

• Foundation accreditations topped 30,000 in 2025
• More than 700 Practitioner & Expert technical accreditations to date
• Learners reported a skills boost of more than 10% on average
• 2,520 sign-ups for the executive-level Contract Management for Senior Responsible Owners course already
• Satisfaction with learning & development hit 85% in 2025
• 92% of those completing Practitioner or Expert courses have made contract savings
• 79% of Practitioner or Expert learners have brought about contract efficiencies
• 75% learners now feel more skilled in managing risk
• Over 1,800 Practitioner and Expert course completions - many awaiting their assessment
• Contract Management Conference 2025 registration & log-ins were the highest yet
• Over 6,300 registrations for the complementary fortnightly good practice webinars in 2025 alone
• The programme’s K-Hub good practice platform has seen registrations from contract managers increase by more than 30% year-on-year to over 6,600 to date

4. Who should join the programme and how to register

The programmes will be of interest to anyone managing government contracts and suppliers who work within either:

• central government departments
• wider public sector organisations
• contracting local authorities
• arms length bodies
• social housing providers
• voluntary organisations, charities or third sector
• social enterprises
• schools, academies, universities or academia who contract suppliers.

Refer to each individual programme to understand suitability and eligibility. 

Courses are undertaken through the Government Commercial College. It is accessible to all, and there is a user guide to help you register (pdf, 910 kb). See specific brochures for cost and registration information. 

5.  Accreditation programmes

Foundation

Foundation (pdf, 719 kb) level training comprises six interactive e-learning modules. It covers the fundamental principles and practice of managing contracts and suppliers effectively at introductory level. 

It will be particularly beneficial for anyone working on a smaller government contract (or a number of contracts) of lower value, lower complexity, or lower risk [Bronze contracts]. It will also be suitable for anyone for whom working on government contracts forms some part (but not all) of their role.

Achieving accreditation at Foundation level is a prerequisite for commencing the Practitioner and Expert courses.

Practitioner

The Practitioner training and accreditation is suitable for professionals with 6-12 months experience in managing contracts from within either central government departments, wider public sector organisations or local authority organisations of medium value, medium complexity, or medium risk [Silver contracts].

If you would like to look through the Practitioner brochure in advance of signing up as the programme returns, it is here: Practitioner - Accreditation and development programme (PDF, 9.41MB).

Expert

The Expert accreditation is a strategic level programme suitable for professionals with 6-12 months experience in managing contracts from within either central government departments, wider public sector organisations or local authority organisations of high value, high complexity, and high risk [Gold contracts].

If you would like to look through the Expert brochure in advance of signing up as the programme returns, it is here: Expert - Accreditation and development programme (PDF, 10.4MB).

6. Development programmes

Beyond Foundation

Beyond Foundation (pdf, 3.5 kb) comprises nine stand-alone videos and bridges the technical knowledge ‘gap’ between the fundamental understanding of Foundation level and the more technical knowledge needed at Practitioner or Expert level.

The programme elaborates on key technical contract management themes across the contract management lifecycle, and is ideal for:

• Building a stronger understanding of the technical elements needed to work on larger or more complex contracts
• Enhancing understanding of the principles of contract management
• Being better prepared for the Practitioner or Expert end assessment
• Restarting personal development and wanting to gain the Practitioner or Expert accreditation after an extended period away.

Contract Management for Senior Responsible Owners

The newly-refreshed Contract management for senior responsible owners is an executive-level development e-learning programme. There are five modules, each one lasting between one and three hours. These are suitable for senior responsible owners or contract leads working in contract management. It is a strategic-level resource that will aid decision-making and judgement in key areas such as risk, governance, team dynamics and commercial awareness - to ensure project and business objectives are met.

Module One is an introductory module and is open to all suitably experienced contract management professionals with ambitions to progress to the next level as a career development opportunity at the first stage.

Designed with busy senior responsible owner diaries in mind, each module can be undertaken independently. 

7. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) 

All learning within the Contract Management Capability Programme is recognised by the CPD Standards Office and as such are Continuing Professional Development (‘CPD’) endorsed.

As per the guide (PDF, 422KB), the courses attract a set points figure for their duration, with time spent on complementary workshops and learning also gaining further points for time spent.

8. Assessment, accreditation and next steps

Foundation

Accreditation is secured after an online, multiple choice assessment. This is the pre-requisite and gateway to further accreditation at Practitioner or Expert level if desired or required. 

Practitioner & Expert

Accreditation is secured through an ePortfolio assessment. Over the course of the programmes, learners will build a digital showcase of their skills and behaviours. This evidence of capability is assessed against Performance Criteria derived from the Contract Management Professional Standards (PDF, 1.38MB).

Expert learners will also be assessed via a live oral assessment. To confirm the authenticity of learners’ evidence, a professional conversation with an assessor evaluates a learner’s capability further against their portfolio to check understanding of complex knowledge and skills. The Programmes reserve the right to request a conversation with any learner, including Practitioner level participants. 

The accreditations are transferable across all central government departments. Each is supported by: Government Commercial Function, WorldCC, CIPS and CPD Standards Office.

Maintaining Practitioner and Expert accreditation

Accreditations are maintained by evidencing a minimum of 30 hours of Continuous Professional Development per annum over the next five years. This is to ensure continued effectiveness in the role and that accredited individuals are up to date with developments in their profession and good practice.

Learners log their activities and submit an annual log as part of the re-accreditation process.

9. Contact information

For more information about the programme, accreditation, and being nominated, you can contact: contract-management@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

For more information about how the CPD points apply you can get in touch with: contractmgtcpd@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

For more information about the programme, click on the links in the sections above for further details about each element of the programme.

10. Providing value

This learning & development programme represents value for money to the public purse, and will address and alleviate any unnecessary costs. As such, a Cancellation Policy (PDF, 101KB) is in force and applies to all learners on the programme.