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UK government preps tech suppliers for £8bn mega framework

(2022/04/21)


The British government is looking to speak with suppliers in preparation for a multi-year procurement that could be worth up to £8 billion in technology products and services.

Crown Commercial Services, the purchasing arm of the Cabinet Office which reaches across central government departments, has [1]published a tender notice looking for tech vendors' feedback on a new framework agreement.

Set to cover everything from IT software, hardware, services and even magnetic cards, the CCS is looking to put together a new procurement mechanism with set T&Cs and pricing available to the whole public sector – including central government departments, the NHS, local government, emergency services and more.

[2]

"It is intended that this commercial agreement will be the recommended vehicle for all commodity technology products and associated services required by the UK central government and wider public sector organisations … Example scope includes, but is not limited to: laptops, desktops, mobile phones, printers, scanners, servers, storage, infrastructure, networking, IoT devices, AR/VR devices … and off the shelf software and associated services," the notice reads.

[3]

[4]

A contract notice, after which formal competition begins, is expected on 2 November 2022.

The exact form of procurement will "be developed with stakeholders and market engagement prior to the publication of any subsequent award notice."

[5]

The new framework – Technology Products and Associated Services 2 – has its [6]own website and is set to replace Technology Products & Associated Services, which was extended until December 2023 in 2020. As with all framework agreements, there is no guarranteed minimum spend.

[7]Plans for UK rival to Silicon Valley ditched

[8]'Please download in Microsoft Excel': Meet the tech set to monitor IT performance across central UK government

[9]You might want to consider the cost of not upgrading legacy tech, UK's Department for Work and Pensions told

[10]UK police lack framework for adopting new tech like AI and face recognition, Lords told

The CCS has been busy in recent months. In January, [11]it launched a prior information notice to get to know suppliers interested in providing software for vertical applications , such as those "developed to meet the needs of their particular industry" in a deal set to be worth up to £1.8 billion.

In March, the central government procurement body [12]launched a set of deals for cloud services and software which could be worth up to £5 billion. Under the auspices of G-Cloud 13, the CCS published two procurement notices which describe a framework agreement for G-Cloud services – an arrangement within which providers can offer services under a fixed set of prices and pre-conditions.

As The Register has pointed out on numerous occasions, there are already a [13]bewildering array of framework agreements in place across the UK. Buyers and sellers are forced to spend too much time navigating them.

CCS makes a one per cent fee on the business transacted via the frameworks it organises, and it intends to "reach £30 billion of spend from a baseline of £13 billion in 2017." ®

Get our [14]Tech Resources



[1] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009910-2022

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YmErVKWqlYCoCutunR@5RQAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YmErVKWqlYCoCutunR@5RQAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YmErVKWqlYCoCutunR@5RQAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YmErVKWqlYCoCutunR@5RQAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6098

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/28/oxford_cambridge_arc_stalled/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/excel_monitor_central_uk_govt/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/dwp_1bn_pension_shortfall/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/19/uk_police_lack_framework_for/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/06/uk_government_stacks_up_to/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/09/5bn_uk_g_cloud_deals/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/04/uk_government_put_750m_on/

[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/



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