Using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products and services
Sometimes you may decide that it is more cost effective to procure products and services from a commercial supplier. These commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products and services are part of the service as a whole and must meet the Service Standard.
When to buy commercial-off-the-shelf products and services
You must go through a discovery phase to determine whether to procure COTS products. This ensures that you are spending public money responsibly and using the best tool for the job.
You should only use COTS products when no suitable alternative is available, including existing products and services from other services.
Accessibility
All COTS products must meet the same requirements as internally-built products, including when it comes to accessibility.
Remember that both public-facing and staff-facing systems must meet accessibility requirements.
Your accessibility assurance must be specific to the service you are creating.
Sustainability
When asking suppliers to calculate environmental impact, you should consider:
- the running costs of the product or service they are supplying
- the environmental impact of its initial development
Read more about environmentally sustainable services
User-centred design
Your service consists of more than the COTS products and services. You must involve designers who understand the broader context of your service and can map the end-to-end service journey. For example, designers will be able to factor in service touchpoints like call centres, forms, letters and emails, and face to face meetings with users.
COTS products and services must be designed to meet the specific needs of the users of your service. You may need to adjust them according to your service users’ needs.
Content designers, interaction designers and user researchers will also help to ensure your service meets accessibility requirements.
Read more about how to set up a service team at each phase
Project lifecycle
You should use agile project management with COTS in the same way you would with an internally-developed product or service. This means that you should include a discovery phase to ensure that COTS is the right approach for your service.
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Guidance first published