Guidance

Civil Service: helping you with managing contracts and suppliers

Information on new training and accreditation available for any civil servant who works with contracts or suppliers, even if this is a small part of your role.

• From: Civil Service
• Published: 16 April 2018
• Last updated: 13 August 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 13 August 2026

     Updated the document: Support for those new to managing contracts or new in role as a contract manager Added the document: Initial guidance and signposting for new in role contract managers

  2. 12 August 2026

     Updated the document: Contract Management Capability Programme 2026 - the updated programme, training products and good practice Added the documents: Programme overview Powerpoint presentation, Foundation two-page flyer, Practitioner two-page flyer, Expert two-page flyer, Beyond Foundation brochure, CPD guide

  3. 20 January 2026

     Made wording tweaks to the documents: Civil Service: helping you with managing contracts and suppliers - Added the section: How to determine the level of your contracts Support for those new to managing contracts or new in role as a contract manager - added context for where on the Contract tiering guide information is located

  4. 29 October 2025

     Added the documents: What does a good contract manager look like Support for those new to managing contracts or new in role as a contract manager Replaced the following documents with updated versions: The Contract Management Capability Programme 2025 Practitioner - Accreditation and development programme Expert - Accreditation and development programme Contract Management for Senior Responsible Owners

  5. 16 July 2025

     Updated the document: Government Commercial College (GCC) User Guide

  6. 29 January 2025

     Added the document: Contract Management Training & Accreditation: Continuing Professional Development Guide

  7. 24 May 2024

     Added a new section on the document:Civil Service: helping you with managing contracts and suppliers - 9. Providing value

  8. 18 April 2024

     Replaced the following document with the latest version: Government Commercial College (GCC) User Guide

  9. 16 January 2024

     Replaced the GovComCollege User Guide for Wider Public Sector with updated guidance

  10. 2 August 2023

      Updated the course costs table in the document Contract Management Capability Programme courses to provide further clarity.

  11. 31 May 2023

      Added the documents: - Contract Management Training & Accreditation Foundation level: takeaway guide - GovComCollege User Guide for Wider Public Sector

  12. 18 May 2023

      Updated guidance and replaced supplementary material with the latest version.

  13. 21 April 2021

      Civil Service: helping you with managing contracts and suppliers guidance updated.

  14. 8 April 2021

      The following "Preparing for your Expert Assessment" and "Preparing for your Practitioner Assessment" contract management brochures have been updated.

  15. 6 April 2020

      Preparing for your Expert Assessment, Preparing for your Practitioner Assessment, and Contract Management Training and Accreditation Brochure have been updated.

  16. 28 February 2020

      Addition of 4 new documents to help learners.

  17. 6 February 2020

      Addition of 'Government Commercial College User Guide'.

  18. 9 August 2019

      Preparing for practitioner assessment attachment updated. Preparing for expert assessment attachment added.

  19. 23 July 2019

      Updated preparing for your practitioner assessment brochure and added link to contract management professional standards guidance.

  20. 25 June 2019

      Preparing for your practitioner assessment brochure has been published to the page.

  21. 3 June 2019

      Attached documents updated with more recent version and FAQs document removed.

  22. 10 December 2018

      Updated 'Civil Service: helping you with managing contracts and suppliers' and added FAQ's document.

  23. 9 November 2018

      Updated the mailing list URL in 'Civil Service: helping you with managing contracts and suppliers'.

  24. 29 October 2018

      Updated the help card attachment.

  25. 29 October 2018

      Added CMTA user guide to 'help card' attachment.

  26. 26 October 2018

      Added 'help card' HTML attachment as a placeholder for a guide being published on Monday 29 October. The system is live now and has a help button that points to this HTML attachment's URL.

  27. 24 October 2018

      Added 'Contract Management Training and Accreditation Brochure'.

  28. 16 October 2018

      We have added information on when the training will be available and how to access it. We have also updated the definitions for Foundation, Practitioner and Expert level.

  29. 16 July 2018

      We have added a couple of new links to the resources section.

  30. 6 June 2018

      We have updated the yearly figure government spends on contracts from £44 billion to £49 billion as per the National Audit Office's report, 'A Short Guide to Commercial Relationships'. We have also included alternative signup information for civil servants who cannot access the Google form to signup for the mailing list from their department.

  31. 16 April 2018

      First published.

Documents

Contract Management Capability Programme 2026 - the updated programme, training products and good practice

HTML

Support for those new to managing contracts or new in role as a contract manager

HTML

The Contract Management Capability Programme 2025 - About the programme (PDF)

PDF, 399 KB, 7 pages

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The Contract Management Capability Programme 2022/23 - About the programme (HTML)

HTML

Contract Management Capability Programme (PDF)

PDF, 1.38 MB, 17 pages

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Contract Management Capability Programme (HTML)

HTML

Foundation - Accreditation and development programme (PDF)

PDF, 719 KB, 8 pages

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Foundation - Accreditation and development programme (HTML)

HTML

Practitioner - Accreditation and development programme (PDF)

PDF, 9.41 MB, 11 pages

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Practitioner - Accreditation and development programme (HTML)

HTML

Expert - Accreditation and development programme (PDF)

PDF, 10.4 MB, 12 pages

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Expert - Accreditation and development programme (HTML)

HTML

Beyond Foundation - Pathway development programme to practitioner or expert level accreditation (PDF)

PDF, 3.51 MB, 9 pages

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Beyond Foundation - Pathway development programme to practitioner or expert level accreditation (HTML)

HTML

Contract Management for Senior Responsible Owners (PDF)

PDF, 442 KB, 10 pages

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Contract Management for Senior Responsible Owners (HTML)

HTML

Skills Coaching (PDF)

PDF, 215 KB, 1 page

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Skills Coaching (HTML)

HTML

Contract Management Training & Accreditation Foundation level: takeaway guide (PDF)

PDF, 1.04 MB, 22 pages

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Contract Management Training & Accreditation Foundation level: takeaway guide (HTML)

HTML

Government Commercial College (GCC) User Guide (PDF)

PDF, 1.25 MB, 12 pages

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Government Commercial College (GCC) User Guide (HTML)

HTML

Contract Management Training & Accreditation: Continuing Professional Development Guide (PDF)

PDF, 422 KB, 13 pages

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Contract Management Training & Accreditation: Continuing Professional Development Guide (HTML)

HTML

What does a good contract manager look like (PDF)

PDF, 2.34 MB, 22 pages

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What does a good contract manager look like (HTML)

HTML

Programme overview Powerpoint presentation (PDF)

PDF, 401 KB, 8 pages

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Programme overview Powerpoint presentation (HTML)

HTML

Foundation two-page flyer (PDF)

PDF, 345 KB, 2 pages

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Foundation two-page flyer (HTML)

HTML

Practitioner two-page flyer (PDF)

PDF, 394 KB, 2 pages

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Practitioner two-page flyer (HTML)

HTML

Expert two-page flyer (PDF)

PDF, 442 KB, 2 pages

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Expert two-page flyer (HTML)

HTML

Beyond Foundation brochure (PDF)

PDF, 3.51 MB, 9 pages

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Beyond Foundation brochure (HTML)

HTML

CPD guide (PDF)

PDF, 422 KB, 13 pages

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CPD guide (HTML)

HTML

Initial guidance and signposting for new in role contract managers (PDF)

PDF, 372 KB, 8 pages

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Initial guidance and signposting for new in role contract managers (HTML)

HTML

Details

To promote and champion good practice, and the professionalisation of public sector contract management, the Civil Service is investing in training and accreditation - through the Contract Management Capability Programme.

This structured programme of training will help and enable you to manage contracts and third party suppliers providing services to central government departments, wider public sector organisations, and local authorities more effectively.

Here are all the details of the programme, the courses, and all of the benefits they bring.