CCS helps 39 schools save £323,000 on broadband and internet services

Background

In February 2020, we were approached by 3 multi-academy trusts (MATs) – Ebor, Pathfinder and South Bank – to help them buy fibre-based broadband connectivity and internet services to replace expiring contracts for 39 schools in York and the surrounding area. 

COVID-19 restrictions meant this was deferred until September 2020, when we were asked to fast-track an aggregated procurement for broadband and internet service provider (ISP) services on behalf of the MATs.

The MATs were keen to enhance their broadband connectivity and safe internet provision to meet the specific needs of pupils and their teachers, both in schools and at their homes.

They wanted to ensure a seamless transition to any new provider, including robust technical and commercial requirements, as well as continuity of existing functionality across the MATs and schools. This was reflected in the specification to create a balanced mix of price and quality in the supplier selection criteria, to ensure the service was fit for purpose. 

The solution

We ran a national further competition to buy broadband and internet access and web filtering services for the 3 MATs and their schools, using our  Education Technology framework (RM6103) – lot 3, broadband services. 

The most economically advantageous offer was gained by taking into consideration both the price and non-price factors.

The result

The winning supplier was an SME called Talk Straight Ltd, who were geographically close to the customers, based in Ilkley. They managed to achieve overall savings of 38% when compared with the MATs’ previous contracts. This is a total saving of £323,000 over the initial terms of the new contracts. In addition, the new contracts include a degree of flexibility to enable each school to select services matched to its specific budget.

Installation and migration from old to the new fibre-based services continues on a tight timescale, with completion currently anticipated by the end of April 2021.

Tim Moat, Director of Communications and Development at Ebor Academy Trust, said: 

CCS was very supportive throughout the entire process. This was a big deal for the 3 MATs, and as well as collective savings, we jointly benefited with such a complex procurement by not having to do it alone. CCS, in particular Paul Weiser, was quick in helping to iron out the inevitable wrinkles, post-award.

Add power to your procurement with CCS

National aggregated further competitions are a tried and tested way to achieve significant savings for the public sector.

This is a fully managed service provided and funded by us at CCS. We will draft all documentation, build the specification and run the procurement for you.

If you have similar needs that you think might benefit from being combined with others to create greater scale and commercial benefits, please visit our website to find out more. 

To express interest in any of our forthcoming aggregations, please complete our online form quoting ‘aggregation’ and a member of our team will be in touch. 

Changes to our frameworks in October

Welcome to our monthly framework update to help you with your procurement planning. We will publish it online each month and also share it in our newsletters and on our social media channels.

The update provides a brief summary of what has been awarded, extended or expired during the previous month. It also outlines what is due to expire in the next 3 months.

You can also get an overview of all of our live frameworks in our interactive digital brochure.

Frameworks awarded in October  

Frameworks extended in October

Frameworks that expired in October 

Frameworks due to expire in the next 3 months

Further information

If you need further details about any of these frameworks please get in touch.

You can also find out what new procurements we are working on by exploring our upcoming deals page.

If you don’t currently receive our monthly customer newsletter why not also subscribe to receive these updates and more directly to your inbox? Just fill in this short form.

Conducting pre-tender market engagement virtually

Many public sector organisations and suppliers are now working remotely in response to COVID-19 – something that could remain the case for some time. This means that when you’re planning to run a procurement using a GCA agreement, any pre-tender market engagement exercises you do to gain valuable feedback from framework suppliers are more likely to be run virtually. 

If doing this virtually is something you are unfamiliar with, or if you’re looking for some tips and tricks to improve your process, our procurement experts have shared their advice. 

Why conduct pre-tender market engagement?

  • understand your requirements better
  • explain your requirements to suppliers
  • write clearer requirements to publish to suppliers
  • understand how much the product or services you need could cost
  • understand how long it might take to implement the product or service
  • write a better business case for internal approval (governance) or spend controls 
  • encourage competition
  • ensure a good number of applications
  • ensure better applications 
  • stimulate innovative solutions to what you are trying to achieve through the procurement

What stage are you at?

Pre-tender market engagement or early market engagement can be carried out in a few ways, but generally falls into 2 categories: 

1. I don’t have draft requirements  

I want to gain a better understanding from the market about what is possible.

Things to consider: 

  • is there something already in the market? 
  • how have other public sector organisations solved a similar problem or addressed comparable requirements?  
  • how much is it likely to cost? 
  • what resources (such as staff, products or equipment) would be needed?
  • how long could the work or supply of products take? 

Invite all suppliers on the agreement(s) you’re considering using to engage – see the supplier lists for various agreements. Keep an audit trail of all communications.

2. I have draft requirements 

I want to warm up the market and give suppliers an understanding of my requirement.

Things to consider:

  • ensure all details shared state ‘DRAFT’
  • is there a different approach suppliers can suggest to the technical solution or product specification? 
  • how much is it likely to cost?
  • how long could the work or supply of products take? 
  • is the requirement to get best value for money? 
  • what essential criteria must suppliers have? 

Invite all suppliers on the agreement to engage – see the supplier lists for various agreements. Keep an audit trail of all communications.

Next steps

Choose a platform to contact suppliers

Email 

You could use your existing email platform or create an account on GOV.UK Notify. To do this, you will need to:

  • have a group mailbox for suppliers to respond to
  • invite other team members to activate your Notify account

eSourcing tool

You could use your organisation’s eSourcing tool if you have one, or we have a free eSourcing tool you can use for running procurements under our agreements. Using an eSourcing tool also allows you to ask suppliers questions in advance of a webinar or conference call with them in a more formal way that ensures transparency. 

Create a template email

You can email suppliers inviting them to attend a webinar or conference call as part of the engagement process. In your email, you should:

  • describe the type of suppliers you want to engage with – for example, what essential skills must they have and/or what product specification must they be able to offer?
  • provide a reasonable time limit for suppliers to respond 
  • provide any limitations on number of attendees, for example, first 500 suppliers to register

Webinar or conference platform

Consider your requirements for the engagement session when choosing your platform. Would running polls to gather quick feedback be helpful and does your existing or potential platform have this functionality? Would you want to split the attendees into groups? If you’re looking for a conferencing service, our previous guidance on this subject might help. 

Help and support

For further guidance and support email us with details of the product or service you are looking to buy and outline the type of advice you are looking for.

Building the NHS workforce

Many thousands of workers have rejoined the NHS to bolster our hospitals and a new generation of nurses have started their careers early to join the frontline in the fight against coronavirus. Millions took to the streets for the weekly clap for carers and people have been inspired and motivated to play their part joining the largest healthcare service in the world – building the NHS workforce of the future. 

In March, the Health Careers website saw a 223% increase in the number of people expressing an interest in a career in nursing, and more than 400,000 NHS job applications were submitted. 

2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. These individuals are vital to our health service. We need to recruit and retain people in these essential and rewarding roles. 

Building the NHS workforce

The NHS Workforce Alliance was formed to enable the NHS to deliver a sustainable workforce model. The alliance brings together the expertise of NHS Procurement in Partnership and Crown Commercial Service as the biggest public procurement partnership in the UK. As leaders in the field we are collectively working to raise the bar to help the NHS address the staffing crisis and achieve a sustainable workforce model. 

With the rise in numbers expressing an interest in becoming part of the NHS, we can help your trust recruit permanent staff domestically and internationally, run retention programmes, use NHS England / Improvement approved frameworks to source agency staff and get workforce consultancy and advice.

Every alliance partner has developed award-winning, accredited, cost saving, compliant agreements. And 4 out of the 5 partners are NHS organisations, so we understand the staffing and cost pressures faced by our health service. 

We provide the NHS with straightforward and compliant routes to market, as well as dedicated support and expert category advice to enable you to create and maintain a sustainable workforce. 

The range of frameworks in the alliance portfolio cover International Recruitment, Flexible Resource Pool – Staff Bank, Non-Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff, National Clinical Staffing, eRostering, HR and Payroll Solutions and Workforce Support.

Can we help you to turn this surge of interest and new recruits into the NHS workforce and help you get the staff you need into your wards, clinics and offices?

Your local procurement partner

For more information, please contact your local procurement hub:

Has GDPR increased your subject access requests?

What are subject access requests?

Put simply a subject access request (SAR) is a request made by, or on behalf of, an individual to find out what personal data you hold about them, why you hold it and who you disclose it to. 

The right for individuals to make these requests is not new, however, the introduction of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK’s Data Protection Act 2018 have given rise to a number of important changes that are having a significant impact on some organisations:

  • the £10 fee chargeable to the individual raising a request has been removed in most circumstances
  • the time to respond has been reduced from 40 days to one month
  • the request no longer needs to be in writing, which means it can now also be made over the phone, in person or via social media

Please visit the Information Commissioner’s Office website to learn more. 

How we can help you

Whether you are looking for a standalone solution to help you manage the requests, or would like to consider it as part of a wider requirement our eDisclosure Services framework can help you. 

By outsourcing elements of the requirement you will:

  • be better placed to meet time limits imposed under GDPR
  • save money 
  • remove the administrative and legal burden 

Redaction of third party data

By far the most complex area of subject access requests is the redaction of third party information before releasing documents. Depending on the source information this can be legally complex, and sometimes needs specific expertise and knowledge to ensure it is completed in the correct way.

All our framework suppliers have proven methodologies, expertise and technology to help eliminate the risk of human error, which can lead to significant financial penalty.

Find out more

If you would like to learn more about how we can help you:

Visit the framework page

Email info@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Call 0345 410 2222

 

Public Procurement Review Service

The Public Procurement Review Service investigates concerns from suppliers (and potential suppliers) about public procurement practice and the late payment of valid and undisputed invoices.  

Free and anonymous

It’s a free service and suppliers can remain anonymous, if they want to. Last year 100% of the service’s recommendations were accepted by contracting authorities. Live procurements were adjusted or advice was taken to improve future procurements. 

£8 million reclaimed

Suppliers have been helped to reclaim over £8 million from more than 350 late payment cases, and the service has a 100% success rate for releasing payments on undisputed invoices.  

Raising awareness

To help the service address concerns and issues from businesses, it is vital that stakeholders know about the service. 

You can help by sharing information on your social media channels and newsletters, and by including a link to the Public Procurement Review Service page on GOV.UK in your procurement documents. You can also follow them on Twitter @govpprs and watch and share their YouTube video.

If you have any questions about the service please email publicprocurementreview@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

Tougher measures to tackle modern slavery in the supply chain

The Home Office has recently published the government’s response to the transparency in supply chains consultation. It sets out how the government will strengthen the transparency requirements in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to tackle modern slavery in the supply chain.

This marks a major milestone for increasing transparency in public sector supply chains, following the publication of the world’s first government modern slavery statement in March this year.  

Following strong support from respondents across business, the public sector and civil society, the consultation response commits to an ambitious package of new measures to strengthen and future-proof the Modern Slavery Act’s transparency legislation.

These include:

  1. harnessing the spending power of the public sector to drive up labour standards in supply chains by extending the transparency requirement to public bodies with a budget of £36 million or more
  2. introducing mandatory reporting topics that statements must cover, such as due diligence, to incentivise better quality and more detailed reporting
  3. requiring modern slavery statements to be published annually on the new government reporting service by a single reporting deadline, to encourage compliance and empower investors, consumers and civil society to monitor progress and scrutinise action taken

Point 1 will apply to England and Wales. Scotland will consult separately on this. Points 2 and 3 will cover England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland will consult separately on all changes.

The government is also considering options for civil penalties in line with the development of the single enforcement body for employment rights, a manifesto commitment led by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

These measures will require amendments to legislation and will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows.

In the meantime, significant work is currently underway to develop the new government-run registry for modern slavery statements, which is due to launch in early 2021.

How is CCS tackling modern slavery in the supply chain?

We have been working in close partnership with the Home Office and Cabinet Office since 2016 to develop an approach to managing modern slavery risk in public sector procurement.

This includes the development of the ‘Tackling modern slavery in government supply chains’ procurement policy note and guidance, as well as a dedicated Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT), which enables all public sector buyers to assess their supplier’s modern slavery risks.

In 2019, it was agreed that CCS would play a key role in supporting the government’s new modern slavery statement by risk assessing its existing framework contracts using the MSAT tool.

26 frameworks were identified as being at potentially high or medium risk of modern slavery occurring. We published a list of those high and medium risk framework contracts on our website, to inform our customers of what we are doing to prevent modern slavery.

286 suppliers working under these frameworks were asked to complete a modern slavery assessment, using the MSAT tool. Follow-up analysis and discussions are taking place with all suppliers who returned a high risk score. Improvement plans are being agreed and put in place to ensure that known risks are fully addressed and mitigated.

A full programme of internal training is also being rolled out across CCS to all of our commercial agreement managers, so they are better prepared to identify and prevent modern slavery risks in our new frameworks.

Empowering you to make better procurement decisions

You can learn more about the role of CCS in our on-demand webinar.

You might also find our recent blog about modern slavery in the workforce helpful.

University of Manchester saves 50% on mobile contract with CCS aggregation service

The background

The University of Manchester was looking to renew its mobile voice and data services contract, which had been put in place using a CCS framework agreement. They realised that using the mobile aggregation service that we offer to customers free of charge would be an ideal way to renew the contract, and seek improved value for money.

The solution

The CCS aggregation team helps customers make savings by creating opportunities for them to standardise their requirements. The university decided to join an aggregation for their mobile voice and data services needs. They joined 8 other customers, enabling us to aggregate 16,600 mobile connections in total.

The university worked closely with the CCS team, who clearly explained the process and the support available at an introductory meeting. Following this, a detailed early market engagement and benchmarking exercise was jointly carried out. This identified that the aggregated approach could help the university achieve a minimum saving of 40%. 

Mark Worrall, Procurement Office, University of Manchester said:

The CCS team provided excellent professional support throughout the process. They aided discussions with internal stakeholders and suppliers. The detailed analysis and engagement provided confidence for university stakeholders. They provided all the information I needed to ensure internal approval to take part in the aggregation was secured.

CCS led and managed the procurement process extremely well. We were kept updated throughout, from the drafting of the tender documents to post-contract award. The contract was awarded in April 2021 and we have been able to realise savings of around 50% against our existing deal. This is even higher than anticipated.”

Ian Jarvey, Deputy Head of Procurement added:

We had a pressing need to renew our mobile voice and data services contract and were fortunate that we were able to join an aggregation with CCS which met our needs and is delivering real savings. CCS was great to work with, and the support from Louise and the CCS technical team was first class. The contract was re-let, pain free, on favourable terms and we will certainly look to take part in further aggregations when we can.

Let us add power to your procurement

To find out more about our aggregation service and upcoming mobile aggregation opportunities please visit our dedicated web page.

You can also call us on 0345 410 2222 or email info@crowncommercial.gov.uk 

You will also find a full list of all the commercial agreements we offer, alongside details of how we can help you build policy considerations into your procurement, in our interactive digital brochure.

The latest technology aggregation opportunities to help you buy smarter

Are you looking to buy IT hardware such as laptops, desktops or mobile phones, or do you need to renew your Adobe software license? By simply telling us about the technology you need to buy, we can help you achieve savings through technology aggregation that would not be possible through buying alone. 

We do this by collating your requirements with the requirements of other public sector bodies, which increases our buying power. 

Best of all, it’s a complimentary service that we offer to help you focus on other, more important tasks. 

Take a look at our upcoming opportunities and discover how you can get involved.

IT hardware aggregation

What you buy from our IT hardware aggregation:

  • laptops, desktops, tablets, hybrid devices
  • monitors, screens
  • docking stations, USB hubs and device components
  • covers, cases, keyboards, mice and other peripherals
  • mobile handset devices and other mobile devices
  • end user support, asset tagging, leasing
  • infrastructure hardware, system installation

Customers saved an average of 21% in our  latest IT hardware aggregation against market prices. With one customer making savings of 31%. Read our case study to find out more. 

Programme of events

Autumn 2021 IT hardware aggregation:

customer requirement deadline 30 September 2021
tender published mid October 2021
tender period mid to late October 2021
award date  3 November 2021
goods delivered 8 November 2021 to 8 November 2022

Adobe Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA) 

The Adobe ETLA is a long-standing arrangement that provides heavily discounted enterprise level Adobe pricing. 

Products available include both online and offline versions of their cloud product set, including the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite.

There are quarterly opportunities for you to access the associated discounts. For the upcoming intake, orders need to be submitted via the catalogue by 10 September 2021, and will have a contract start date of 24 September 2021. 

Customers can access the pricing and generate quotes and orders using our Technology Online Purchasing Content catalogue. The catalogue entry description will reference the ‘Adobe ETLA’.

Let us add power to your procurement 

If you would like to learn more about these opportunities, please complete our online form quoting ‘IT hardware aggregation’ or ‘Adobe software ETLA,’ and a member of our team will be in touch.

Alternatively, you can call us on 0345 410 2222.

The Northern Skills Academy becomes national

The Northern Skills Academy was piloted as a virtual platform to share knowledge at the start of the first coronavirus lockdown, in March 2020.

With many of our customers facing issues driven by coronavirus, the sessions initially provided clarity on how to compliantly extend contracts to get through the lockdown period and ensure continuity of service. Since then, we have delivered sessions on topics including good record keeping, contract management and cyber security.

While the name reflected the role of our northern customer community in building the scheme, over the past 18 months, we have been delighted to welcome registrations from customers spanning the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. 

We now feel it’s time to formally recognise this is now a truly nationwide offering and, from November, change the name to the Skills Academy.

 What you can expect  

As a regular attendee of the Skills Academy, you should simply see a branding change. The look, feel and quality of the sessions will remain unchanged.

For those new to Skills Academy events, here’s what you can expect:

  • a session each month, lasting no longer than an hour, that brings together delegates and subject matter experts from across the country 
  • our content and themes to be completely driven by our customers – so we talk about the issues that truly matter to you
  • the sessions to be designed to make sure they contribute to your learning journey and they can be logged against your Continuous Development Plan 

Join our upcoming events:

Get involved

If you’re interested in attending a Skills Academy event please contact Phillip Hodgson at phillip.hodgson@crowncommercial.gov.uk for more information.

We are committed to continuing to develop our Skills Academy events. If you have any feedback, topics you’d like to see covered, or any other thoughts on how we can make the sessions as useful as possible, please contact Phillip.