Guidance

Crown Commercial Service customer update: July 2015

Published 30 July 2015

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crown-commercial-service-update-july-2015/crown-commercial-service-customer-update-july-2015

1. Annual Report and Accounts

Our first Annual Report and Accounts was published on 20 July. We supported the delivery of £5.9 billion savings for the taxpayer in 2014/15. These savings were achieved through a combination of price and demand related savings on common goods and services, leveraging relationships with suppliers and spending controls. Highlights for the year include:

  • £15.1 billion of government and public sector spend channelled through our centralised arrangements

  • transitioned spend on common goods and services from 7 departments, providing a managed service and managing 450+ contracts

  • provided advisory support to approximately 50 departments’ projects

  • strengthened leadership and governance

  • improved capability and increased capacity – recruitment of highly experienced commercial specialists to deliver better services and superior savings for customers

  • supported departments in channelling 26.1% of central government spend through small and medium sized businesses by May 2015, exceeding 25% aspiration

  • successful implementation of new EU procurement directives 14 months ahead of deadline, enabling businesses to benefit early from the increased flexibilities in the regulations

Read our full Annual Report and Accounts

2. Procurement policy notes

2.1 Procurement policy note 12/15: availability of procurement procedures (decision tree)

This new procurement policy note provides guidance on the changes to the choice of procurement routes resulting from the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, including a revised decision tree. It also sets out the general policy expectations on procurement which continue to apply. View the note here

Looking for a procurement policy note? A collection of all procurement policy notes can be found here

3. Events

3.1 Civil Service Live

Civil Service Live returns in September this year providing 6 days of learning across 5 locations:

  • Thursday 10 September: St James’ Park, Newcastle

  • Monday 14 September: Manchester Central, Manchester

  • Tuesday 22 September: Colston Hall, Bristol

  • Tuesday 29 September: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh

  • Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 October: Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London

It is primarily a learning event and the 4 themes this year are: innovation, leadership, new UK government and skills. We will feature within the skills theme, focusing on the commercial profession.

Attendance is free for everyone working in the civil service and registration is open now

Exhibition and sponsorship opportunities are also available. Contact Paul Sanders on 020 7593 5605 or paul.sanders@dods.co.uk to find out more.

3.2 Digital Services 2 webinars

Digital Services 2 (RM1043ii) is due to go live on the Digital Marketplace on 6 August and we are hosting 2 webinar sessions for customers interested in using the agreement:

Please click on the links above to register for your preferred webinar date. Once registered you will be sent instructions for joining the meeting.

During the webinar we will answer any questions you have about the buyers’ guide which will be available online from 6 August. You can submit questions in advance of the webinars by emailing fiona.holliday@crowncommercial.gov.uk

3.3 Digital Marketplace roadshows

We are hosting a series of regional Digital Marketplace events with the Government Digital Service and techUK during August and early September. Each event will provide public sector buyers with the latest information on how best to use the Digital Marketplace and share insight into the upcoming changes with G-Cloud and Digital Services.

If you are a public sector organisation you can book your free place now:

3.4 Healthcare Efficiencies Through Technology Expo

We are exhibiting at this free to attend event at Olympia, London on 30 September. In addition, Sarah Hurrell, Commercial Director for Technology will be presenting a seminar session on technology procurement. Book your free place

4. Latest Mystery Shopper results

The Mystery Shopper scheme allows suppliers to report tenders they did not understand or instances of what they believe to be poor procurement practice. The government uses this information to help procurers ensure they are transparent and open. The scheme publishes results of investigations every 2 weeks. View the latest results to see how the scheme is helping to improve procurement practices.

5. Back-office services

We are doing some market research into back-office services, such as payroll, HR and finance, with a particular focus on the requirements of the wider public sector. The aim is to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency and delivery of back-office services, realise savings, and support economic growth. If you are interested in helping us shape the future of back-office services please email bps@crowncommercial.gov.uk

6. Case study: NHS saves £2.2 million on text message service

Text messaging is used extensively in the NHS to communicate with patients and staff, with over 300 million texts sent in 2014. In March of this year the national text messaging contract ended, in line with the move from central to local procurement and funding.

Following engagement with the Health and Social Care Information Centre, Department of Health, and a number of NHS trusts, procurement hubs and partnerships, we were able to aggregate demand and put in place a solution so each trust did not have to independently procure a new service when the national arrangement expired. This has resulted in a 21% saving on the previous contract, equating to a saving of £2.2 million for the NHS over the 2 year contract. Read the full case study here

To find out more about aggregated technology procurement opportunities please email technologyaggregation@crowncommercial.gov.uk

7. Technology aggregation opportunity: SIP trunks (fixed voice services)

We are planning a series of aggregated further competitions for SIP trunks and related services, under the new Network Services agreement (RM1045) which is due to go live shortly.

SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol and enables voice traffic to integrate and share infrastructure with data communications networks. SIP trunks typically reduce the cost of voice lines by up to 50%. They also enable lower call charges and provide a platform for technical and commercial innovation to improve operational flexibility and efficiency, paving the way for further benefits.

The planned competitions are designed to focus attention on the opportunities offered by SIP technology, and will be particularly beneficial for customers who are currently reviewing their fixed voice provision.

We anticipate running the first further competition in September/October of this year with contracts in place by November/December.

If you are interested in getting involved please email technologyaggregation@crowncommercial.gov.uk as soon as possible with the reference NFC27 in the subject line.

8. New agreements

The following agreements are now live and available for customers to access:

Network Services (RM1045) and Digital Services 2 (RM1043ii) have also recently awarded and will go live in August.

As well as being able to view full details of all live agreements in the find an agreement directory you can also download a summary list of all the available CCS agreements. This list is updated monthly so you will always have access to the latest information.

9. New contract notices

The following contract notice has recently been published:

You can view further details of all ongoing or planned procurements on our procurement pipeline

10. Expired agreements

Non-Medical, Non-Clinical Resource (CM/AAC/09/5124) expired on 30 June. It has been replaced by Non-Medical, Non-Clinical (RM971)

11. Agreements expiring shortly

The following agreements are due to expire in August:

  • Digital Services (RM1043) will expire on 8 August 2015 and be replaced by Digital Services 2 (RM1043ii) which will go live on 6 August

  • IT Managed Service (RM717) will expire on 5 August 2015; it has been replaced by Technology Services (RM1058)

  • Vehicle Hire (RM807) will expire on 31 August 2015 and be replaced by a new Vehicle Hire (RM1062) agreement which is due to award in August

12. Agreement extensions

The following agreements have been extended to ensure continuity of service for customers:

  • Agency Nursing and Social Care (RM970) until 31 July 2016

  • Data Access Processing and Analytics (RM1016) until 31 May 2016

  • Face to Face Translation (RM738) until 16 January 2016

  • Government Office Supplies Contract (RM917) until 30 April 2016

  • Locum Doctors including locum GPs (RM1570) until 30 June 2016

13. 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. To sign up for email alerts simply click here and provide your email address and select the frequency you wish to receive updates.

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If you need further information about anything in this update please do not hesitate to contact our helpdesk on 0345 410 2222 or email info@crowncommercial.gov.uk You can also follow us on Twitter and connect with us on LinkedIn

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