Crown Commercial Service customer update: December 2017
Published 4 December 2017
1. Christmas and New Year opening hours
Our customer service desk team will be available from 9am to 5pm on Friday 22 December and from 10am to 4pm on Wednesday 27 December to Friday 29 December.
We will be back to our normal business hours on Tuesday 2 January 2018.
For help and support during these times please call us on 0345 410 2222 or email info@crowncommercial.gov.uk
2. Are you looking to buy IT hardware before the end of the financial year?
We’re planning an aggregated further competition under lot 1 of Technology Products 2 (RM3733) for readily available branded IT hardware, such as commercial off the shelf (COTS) products. This will be ideal for you if you need delivery of products by the end of this financial year.
If you are interested in getting involved please express your interest no later than 15 December. To take part you will also need to be able to share your technical specifications for inclusion no later than 10 January 2018.
Find out more about the aggregation opportunity and how to get involved.
3. Fleet eAuction: last chance to get involved
We run 3 vehicle eAuctions each year on behalf of customers across the public and third sector. By combining their requirements we have been able to help our customers save as much as 40% on the manufacturer’s retail price.
Our eAuctions are run under lots 1 and 2 of the Vehicle Purchase (RM1070) framework and any volume or vehicle type can be considered. We can also help you if you want to lease rather than buy the vehicles.
If you would like to take part in the next eAuction, which will take place in March, we will need your commitment by 17 January 2018.
If you are interested in finding out more please get in touch - simply tick the aggregation box and quote Fleet eAuctions.
4. Technology webinars
Our technology framework teams are hosting a series of webinars to help explain what, and how, you can buy technology and digital solutions through our frameworks.
- Network Services on 5 December and 9 January at 10:30am Networks remain fundamental for the successful delivery of public services. Join us for this overview of the Network Services framework, covering how to buy a variety of services, from mobile connections to wide area network connections.
- G-Cloud on 6 December and 10 January at 10.30am Find out how to search for and buy cloud computing services like infrastructure, platform, software and specialist cloud services.
- Technology Products on 13 December at 11am and 25 January at 2.30pm Join our customer overview of the different ways you can use our agreement for all your IT hardware and commodity software needs, including access to our extensive online catalogue, the Purchasing Platform.
5. Automatic number plate recognition
The National ANPR Service (NAS) will store all automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) data in one national collection, removing the need for over 40 separate back office functions across police forces.
All forces are required to buy a management server to support this by spring 2018 and the Home Office is currently undertaking certification of management servers to ensure that they conform to the NAS specification.
NDI, Cleartone, ESSA (Jenoptik), Civica and 3M are all certified and are suppliers on our Traffic Management Technology 2 framework, which can be used to buy management services either via further competition under lot 2 or direct award under lot 15.
Learn more about the framework
6. New frameworks
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Management Consultancy (RM3745) lots 4-8 for HR, health & community, education, infrastructure, and ICT & digital are now live.
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HSCN Access Services (RM3825) is now live. The Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) is a new data network for health and care organisations that provides the underlying network arrangements to help integrate and transform health and social care services by enabling them to access and share information more reliably, flexibly and efficiently. The Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) provides a route to buy connectivity, closely related services and support with transition and implementation.
7. Latest procurements
The following OJEU contract notices have recently been published:
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Fuel Cards and Associated Services (RM6000) to provide customers with a card based solution for the purchase of fuel and other vehicle associated services such as screen wash, car wash and oil.
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Utilities Switching Service (RM3809, which is designed to provide switching services for gas and/or electricity, water and other commodities for our low consuming public sector customers.
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Utilities Management Software, Metering and Ancillary Services (RM3800) to provide customers with end to end data management solutions for all utilities including electricity, gas, water, fuels, steam, heat and chilling.
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Public Sector Travel and Venue Solutions (RM6016) which will replace Crown Travel & Venue Services (RM3735) and Wider Public Sector Travel Management Services (RM1034).
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Supplier Early Payment Solutions (RM6001) to provide customers with the ability to accelerate invoice payments to their suppliers in advance of the contracted payment term.
You can view details of all ongoing or planned procurements on our procurement pipeline.
8. Frameworks expiring shortly
- ConsultancyONE (RM1502) will expire on 15 December. Customers can put in place call-off contracts for future works up until the expiry date, or use the new Management Consultancy (RM3745) framework.
- Printing and Specialist Paper (RM1078) is due to expire on 19 January 2018. Customers looking to purchase paper should use the Office Supplies for the Wider Public Sector (RM3703) framework. Customers looking for print services should use the Managed Print and Digital Solutions (RM3785) framework.
- Legal Services (RM919) lot 5 will expire on 27 December and lot 8 will expire on 31 January 2018. Central government customers should now use the General Legal Advice (RM3786), Finance and Complex Legal Services (RM3787) and Rail Legal Services (RM3756) panels for all their legal requirements. A new Legal Services marketplace is also being developed to offer a wide range of services to the whole of the public sector. It will also be suitable for central government customers with requirements below £20,000 in value.
- Behavioural Insights Consulting and Research (RM3742) will expire on 3 February 2018. It is being replaced by Behavioural Insights (RM6004), which is due to award in January.
- Allied Health Professionals Health Science and Emergency Services Temporary Staff (RM959) will expire on 31 March 2018. Customers with requirements for these types of agency staff should use Multidisciplinary Temporary Healthcare Personnel (RM3711), which provides an NHS Improvement approved way to source all your temporary clinical staff needs through a single framework.
9. Recently expired frameworks
- Computer Based Testing Services (RM995) expired on 17 October. Customers with online testing requirements should now use G-Cloud 9 (RM1557ix).
10. Framework extensions
- Wider Public Sector Travel Management Services (RM1034) has been extended until 20 August 2018 to provide continuity of service during the development of the replacement agreement Public Sector Travel and Venue Solutions (RM6016), which is expected to be available from April 2018.
- Media Audit Service (RM3727) has been extended until 22 December 2018.
- Digital Outcomes and Specialists 2 (RM1043iv) has been extended until 27 January 2019.
- Postal Goods and Services (RM1063) has been extended until 16 February 2019.
- Building Materials and Associated Services (RM3747) has been extended until 19 February 2019.
- Merchant Acquiring Services, Equipment and Payment Gateway Services (RM3702) has been extended until 29 February 2019.
- Cyber Security Services 2 (RM3764ii) has been extended until 1 March 2019.
- Crown Office Supplies (RM3723) has been extended until 30 March 2019.
- G-Cloud 9 (RM1557ix) has been extended until 21 May 2019.
11. Quick links
11.1 Case studies
Take a look at our latest case studies to see how we have been helping our customers.
11.2 Mystery Shopper results
You can view the latest Mystery Shopper results to see how the scheme is helping to improve procurement practices across the public sector and support our ambition to make doing business with government as easy as possible for small businesses.
11.3 Procurement policy
If you are looking for public procurement policy guidance please take a look at our public procurement policy page
Looking for a particular procurement policy note? View the collection of all procurement policy notes.
11.4 Procurement tools
eSourcing log on Not yet registered? Find out how to register in our eSourcing guide.
12. Sign up for email alerts
You can sign up for immediate, daily or weekly email alerts which will tell you what we have added or updated on the GOV.UK website. It is a great way to stay up to date with the latest news and information from CCS. Sign up for email alerts by providing your email address and selecting the frequency you wish to receive updates.
If you need further information about anything in this update please do not hesitate to contact us by email info@crowncommercial.gov.uk or call our customer service team on 0345 410 2222 You can also follow us on Twitter and connect with us on LinkedIn.