£30m in contracts awarded in Post Office's £357m ATM overhaul
- Reference: 1612182130
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/02/01/30m_contracts_awarded_as_part/
- Source link:
UK government-owned company which runs the familiar local outlets has awarded [1]Cennox a £26m contract for banking automation managed services while [2]Vocalink has won a £4m contract for provision of a highly resilient, compliant and secure platform providing ATMs.
[3]
The Post Office [4]said last year it planned to close almost a third of its 2,000 cash machines, which are free to use and valuable to the public where alternative facilities are scarce. Convenience stores largely charge to withdraw cash at ATMs.
Post Office machines are owned and operated by Bank of Ireland which is set to pull out of the arrangement. It said it would join the LINK cash machine and decommission 600 existing ATMs it said were little used.
[5]
Under its contract, Cennox is expected to provide software from multiple vendors, telecommunications services, hardware installation and maintenance services, monitoring and helpdesk services for the network.
The Post Office currently runs around 11,500 branches throughout the UK and Northern Ireland.
Launched in 2019, the multi-lot procurement is expected to offer “transaction processing, managed services and hardware for the automation” to a proportion of Post Office branches. "Solutions will depend upon the demands of each branch and a number of demographics such as geographic location and cash in/outflow in Post Office branches," [6]according to the original £357m framework contract notice .
As well as aspects concerning network management and security, the notice also said the system should support digital applications, mobile and smart phone applications, bitcoin, coin, cash and cheque deposit. The Register was surprised to learn there was demand for bitcoin among the pensioners who largely representing Post Office clientele, but you never know.
In addition, the system is intended to support the Post Office Card Account, a specially created bank account systems designed to allow people who have no other banking access to collect social security benefits, although the Department for Work and Pensions has since decided to withdraw support for the service.
[7]
The contract notice was divided into five lots. They include lots for ATM hardware; self-service hardware, including deposit and cash recycling equipment and teller cash automation supply; as well as the two lots in which the Cennox and Vocalink contracts have been awarded. ®
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[1] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:048716-2021:TEXT:EN:HTML
[2] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:048715-2021:TEXT:EN:HTML
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YBgzpQdZ935u90l4fTycwAAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://news.sky.com/story/post-office-to-lose-600-cash-machines-as-owner-withdraws-12115225
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YBgzpQdZ935u90l4fTycwAAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:060289-2019:TEXT:EN:HTML
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YBgzpQdZ935u90l4fTycwAAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Please explain
"In addition, the system is intended to support the Post Office Card Account, a specially created bank account systems designed to allow people who have no other banking access to collect social security benefits, although the Department for Work and Pensions has since decided to withdraw support for the service."
I have a relation that collects her DWP pension in cash via a 'post office card account'. That facility was planned to and, as far as I'm aware, is still going to be withdrawn. Two things arise from this (a) she can't get to her money as it's got to go into a current account in a bank branch miles from home (don't even think of telling me to put an 89 year old onto internet banking so she can pay her milkman or how she should annoy the shopkeeper by using a card for a pint of milk.) and (b) it makes the above support facility a complete waste of money ...
So are the DWP "withdrawing support for the service" - in which case why are they spending money supporting it - or are they continuing to support the service in which case why haven't all those using the facility been told of a policy change?
Somewhere I have a picture of an arse and an elbow which I can hire out for comparison training ...
"decommission 600 existing ATMs it said were little used"
Oh, so the small amount of electricity and maintenance on an ATM is more important than its usage ?
I'm guessing that 600 less ATMs is going to inconvenience a fair amount of people. How are they going to be able to get some cash then ? Drive another 20km to some bank teller and wait in line ?
Honestly, what is the cost of maintaining an ATM and where do you draw the line on its usefulness ?
Fewer ATMs is possibly unsurprising just at the moment in the middle of a pandemic when everything is trying to be cashless - but that assumes you've got debit cards / credit cards, IT to manage some sort of account on line - and that excludes many of the people that bank with the Post Office because there's someone they can talk to to get help / collect benefits / pensions there. Cities are becoming deserts if you need cash machines and corner stores taking £2 per transaction or whatever aren't helping those on the lowest incomes.