RM6399 Consultancy and Professional Services, or CaPS, is the framework taking over from RM6309 Management Consultancy Framework 4 (MCF4).
It’s worth being precise about the relationship between the two, because “replacing” can be read a few ways. CaPS isn’t MCF5. It’s a separate framework, procured from scratch under different legislation, and MCF4 won’t continue alongside it. There’s no transfer arrangement for existing suppliers, so if you’re currently listed and want to keep that route to market, you’ll be applying as a new bidder.
The good news is that the tender hasn’t launched yet. GCA expects to publish the Find a Tender notice in September 2026, which gives you a genuine window to get ready rather than scramble.
If you’re new to CaPS entirely, start with our overview of the framework. This article picks up from there and focuses on what’s changed.
The Procurement Act 2023 is the reason for most of it
MCF4 was let under the old procurement regime. CaPS is being let under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force in February 2025.
That’s not a technicality. The Act changed how contracting authorities assess financial standing, how payment terms work, and what suppliers have to evidence before they can bid at all. Several of those requirements are now standardised across GCA frameworks rather than being written fresh for each one.
The practical upshot: if you’ve been through the MCF4 application, that experience will help you less than you’d hope. The commercial proposition is comparable, but the compliance gate in front of it has moved.
10 Lots, and the service lines are now confirmed
CaPS is structured across ten lots covering business, strategy and policy, finance, HR, procurement, health and social care, infrastructure and environment, and restructuring and insolvency.
GCA published a draft lot structure during engagement and confirmed the final service lines in its August 2026 supplier engagement update. If you’re planning to apply, that document is the first thing to read, because it determines which lots you’re genuinely eligible for.
This matters more than it sounds. Suppliers routinely over-apply, bidding for lots they can’t evidence, or miss a lot they could have won comfortably. Both are expensive mistakes and both are avoidable with an hour spent on the service lines document.
Technical Ability Certificates are part of the process now
One of the more significant additions confirmed in August is the requirement for Technical Ability Certificates (TACs).
A TAC is a declaration referencing a specific contract you’ve delivered, which GCA then validates directly with the customer named on it. They’ve become standard across recent GCA frameworks, and they’re unforgiving if you haven’t prepared: each one needs a genuine, recent, separately named contract where you had a delivery role.
Gathering contract references and checking your customer contacts are happy to be approached is the single most time-sensitive thing you can do right now. It’s also the thing suppliers most often leave until it’s too late.
Financial standing is assessed through the FVRA
CaPS uses the Financial Viability Risk Assessment tool, which is now the prescribed method for assessing economic and financial standing across government procurement.
It works differently from a straightforward turnover threshold. You populate the tool, it applies defined metrics against published thresholds, and returns a red, amber or green rating against each ratio. You see your initial outcome before you submit, which is genuinely useful.
There are three possible outcomes: acceptable, acceptable with mitigating actions (for example, a guarantor), or unacceptable.
The part worth knowing is that amber or red isn’t an automatic fail. The tool includes space for mitigating commentary and GCA has been clear that suppliers should use it. If a ratio looks odd for a legitimate reason, explain it. GCA has also confirmed you’re not limited to statutory accounts, so the more relevant financial detail you provide, the better they can understand your business.
You’ll need a compliant Carbon Reduction Plan
If you haven’t produced one before, budget 4-8 weeks. This isn’t a document you can put together the week before submission, and it can’t be backdated.
PPN 006 has been in force since February 2025. A compliant Carbon Reduction Plan needs to include:
- your supplier name exactly as the bidding entity
- a publication date within the last 12 months
- a commitment to Net Zero by 2050 or sooner
- baseline emissions, calculated before any reduction measures
- current emissions covering a full 12 month cycle, dated within 18 months
- reporting against Scope 1, 2 and 3
- reduction targets and a narrative on the measures you’ve put in place
- sign-off from a director or equivalent, named and dated
It also has to be published on your own website, not held internally or sent on request. GCA recommends keeping it to ten pages.
Two things catch suppliers out. You need to report against every Scope 3 category in the technical standards, with a narrative where one isn’t applicable or is still being measured. And GCA doesn’t accept carbon offsets or carbon neutral certificates as equivalent to actually reducing emissions.
Prompt payment – check your position now
The Procurement Act automatically implies 30 day payment terms into public sector contracts and subcontracts. On top of that, PPN 015 applies to CaPS.
To pass, you need to show either that you pay at least 95% of invoices within 60 days, or at least 90% within 60 days plus an action plan on improving. You also need to be paying all invoices within an average of 55 days. You’ll need to evidence both across at least one of the two previous six month reporting periods, and your Payment Practice Reports can do that.
This one is worth checking early, because it’s a barrier rather than a scoring deduction. If your payment performance doesn’t currently clear the threshold, you want to know that now and not in September.
(A technical footnote for the detail-minded: PPN 018 came in on 1st October 2025 with updated requirements, but because the UK2 notice for CaPS was published before that date, PPN 015 is what applies here.)
Cyber Essentials
CaPS suppliers will need Cyber Essentials accreditation. If you don’t currently hold it, factor certification time into your planning.
More pricing flexibility than MCF4 offered
One area where CaPS gives suppliers more room is commercial structure. Buyers will be able to choose between time and materials, fixed price, or risk and reward arrangements.
Risk and reward is the interesting one. If your consultancy model suits outcome-based pricing, that’s a route which was far less available on previous consultancy frameworks. Worth thinking about how you’d price the same engagement three different ways.
Buyers get a shortlisting tool
CaPS includes a tool to help buyers shortlist suppliers, which is a small feature with real commercial consequences.
If buyers are filtering a supplier list before they publish a requirement, how your business is described on the framework directly affects whether you show up. Your service line selection isn’t an admin task. It’s a visibility decision that will shape your pipeline for the life of the framework.
Timeline – where things currently stand
- September 2025 to March 2026: pre-market engagement, including customer and supplier sessions
- May 2026: further supplier session covering carbon reduction plans, prompt payment and financial viability
- August 2026: updated supplier engagement slides published, confirming service lines and TAC requirements
- September 2026 (expected): publication of the Find a Tender notice
- July 2027 (expected): framework award
What to do now
- Read the confirmed service lines and decide honestly which lots you can evidence
- Gather your TAC contract references and check your customer contacts are willing to be approached
- Check your Carbon Reduction Plan is current, compliant and published on your site. If you don’t have one, start this week
- Pull your payment performance data and compare it against the PPN 015 thresholds
- Confirm Cyber Essentials is in date
- Run your numbers through the FVRA logic and draft mitigating commentary for anything likely to come back amber
Next steps
We’ll keep this page updated as GCA publishes more. In the meantime, if you’re on MCF4 and planning to apply for CaPS, the useful work is all in the next few months rather than after the tender drops.
We’ve supported over 600 suppliers through public sector framework applications, with a 94% average quality score across submissions. If you’d like a hand getting your compliance position straight before the window opens, book a chat with our team.
