[1] Constructionline was established in 1998 by the UK government to provide a single point of reference for all pre-qualification data for the construction industry.

[2] In July 2014 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced it was looking to sell the database and in January 2015 it was subsequently acquired outright by Capita for £35m.

On 31 January 2018, Capita announced it planned to sell Constructionline as part of a transformation programme including disposal of non-core assets and cost cutting.

In a survey of members of the Association of Consulting Engineers in 2001, two thirds of firms complained that they were being made to undertake pre-qualification procedures despite being registered with Constructionline.

The Salford researchers confirmed many of the original problems persisted, but did find evidence of the benefits to the construction industry of using Constructionline in terms of tangible financial savings.