Contract Management Pioneer Programme (CMPP)
Welcome to the resources page for Contract Management Pioneer Programme (CMPP) that contains a range of tools, templates and guidance specifically for local authorities.
CMPP is a partnership to support good practice in contract management offering training, networking and direct support to local authorities. The programme is funded by Government Commercial Agency working in collaboration with the Local Government Association and Local Partnerships, now involving over 100 councils.
The tools, templates and guidance have been developed in conjunction with local authorities to ensure they are relevant and useful. Based on demand there will be continued additions – so let us know if there is something you would like to see here. ere will be continued additions – so let us know if there is something you would like to see here.
To sign up for CMPP please get in touch here CMPPenquiries@localpartnerships.gov.uk
Checked out our Business Process Mapping (BPM) toolkit: BPM toolkit
If you’d like to express an interest in joining CMPP, please email CMPPenquiries@localpartnerships.gov.uk and we can provide an update of availability.
Thank you for your interest.
Explore our contract management tools designed for the housing sector.
Does the council have a Senior Officer within the Local Authority with a responsibility for the quality of Contract Management ?
An overview of the challenges in contract management, suggested approach to assurance boards and headline reporting. Useful for raising awareness of the issues and ways forward.
Useful first overview which could identify areas of risk and improvement.
Sometimes referred to as a health check, this is a way a contract management to review in a bit more detail where they are with a particular contract.
A template for conducting a detailed conversation on how a contract is being managed with RAG rating that can be aggregated with the performance of other contracts to give an overview of the council’s approach to managing contracts.
An overview of creating a contract management framework using a lifecycle approach, with details of what can be include in the different sections.
Download the Contract Management Framework guidance
See tool 13 for framework template
A guide to tiering including types of activity based on tiered level, with interactive tool design for local authorities.
All in one place is the templates contains the RAIC, risk log, assumptions, issues, decision and action log – with formular to aggregate RAG rating to give an overview of the contract’s performance.
Guidance of working with suppliers with some key principles, approaches and hints.
Guidance of working with suppliers with some key principles, approaches and hints.
How to guidance based on performance transparency, knowledge sharing, and employee and customer engagement
Set of slides to support awareness and training to introduce the approach and requirements of contact management.
The survey results assessing councils’ contract management capabilities involving 37 different local authorities.
A template for Contract Management that includes a range of sample text and suggested approaches to tiering, social value, assurance, supplier management and requirements of the Procurement Act.
Detailed guidance on assessing the range of commissioning models, including considering options and their alternatives, understanding the risks and benefits, preparing a business case for decision making and factors for insourcing – supported by techniques and tools.
This document is in an accessible format.
Three sets of guidance linked to the Procurement Act – direct awards, notices and workforce changes produced by Michael Page Recruiting.
Download the Procurement Act – Workforce guide
The Social Value Monitoring Guidance and Toolkit have been developed to support the Local Government Contract Management Pioneer Programme (CMPP).
Download the Social Value guide here
Download the Social Value Organisation Tracker
A quick guide on negotiating with suppliers to reach mutually agreed terms to achieve the required outcomes of a contract.
18. Measuring Contract Management Health
A guide to support councils navigate the use of data to evaluate how well contracts are being managed across their local authority. Accompanied by a self-assessment for contract managers to profile delivery.
Download the ‘Measuring the Health of Contract Management’ document
Download the ‘Assessment for Contract Management Health’ document
A short, practical guide for including sustainability requirements in the procurement of new contracts.
A template strategy for local authorities to update and amend, which set outs option.
21. Exemplar RAG Framework
An easy to use self-assessment to review your council’s profile against exemplar criteria in contract management.
22. Competency Framework
Guidance and tool to help contract managers understand the skills and knowledge required for their roles.
23. Contract Management Assurance Board
These templates assist councils in setting up and running a Contract Management Assurance Board. They include setup guidance, a high-level presentation to gain stakeholder buy-in, meeting templates, and a triage dashboard designed to help identify high-risk contracts.
Download the Contract Management Assurance Board
Download the Assurance Board Checklist
Download the Assurance Board Overview
Download the Contract Triage Dashboard
Download the Assurance Board Terms of Reference
24. Segmentation Tool
Tool to segment your contracts to be proportionate in reporting, monitoring and assurance; supported by guidance on how to adapt for your council’s use.
A summary of the Lunchables sessions that explored key issues in contract management impacting local government, with expert knowledge shared over lunchtime during a two week period in October 2025.
Click here to view the Lunchables summary PDF.
Result of the National Survey of Contract Management with findings from local authorities from different parts of the UK.
27. The Governance Collective
A set of guidance address good governance in contract management.
Click here to download “The governance balance”
Click here to download “Stages and the people involved”
Click here to download “Using the pipeline to streamline governance”
Click here to download “Refining a waiver process”
This guidance has been produced to accompany the templates for contract handover, plan and monitoring. It explains the purpose and approach for the different stages along with the different types of activity required during each phase.
This Workbook acts as a checklist, guide and self assessment on the fundamentals of contract management. The set of questions are based on training developed with local authorities on the key requirements in running a contract.
30. Contract Management Network
This guidance sets out the key steps and considerations for establishing a Contract Management Network to support effective contract management across the council. Accompanying the guidance are summary slides outlining a rollout plan the network along with a sample Terms of Reference.
Download the Terms of Reference template
31. In-contract Savings
This guidance supports councils who want to explore savings in live contracts, taking you through the information needed and the different stages required, with useful checklists in the appendix
This guidance follows a dispute resolution pathway, taking a pre-emptive and proactive approach to address dispute resolution.
25 tools and templates have been created to navigate the contract management lifecycle. This document provides the index of documents and the hosting page on the Local Partnership website.
Access the Project Management in Contract Management index
Access the Project Management in Contract Management webpage
A sample Handbook for council to adapt and use to outline activities across the different stages of the contract management lifecycle, with associated tiering, activity leads, those involved and available resources.
Read-only Versions
Read versions of the documents you can adapt for your own use.
If you have any problems using this tool kit, please get in touch here CMPPenquiries@localpartnerships.gov.uk
Due to popular demand, the CMPP programme is currently full. If you’d like to join the waiting list, please email CMPPenquiries@localpartnerships.gov.uk with your council’s name and the number of learners.
Thank you for your interest.