Changes to our agreements in January

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.

Agreements awarded in January

  • no agreements were awarded in January 2024

Agreements extended in January

Agreements that expired in January

Agreements due to expire in the next 3 months

Further information

If you need further details about any of these agreements 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.

Prepare your organisation for Transforming Public Procurement

The Transforming Public Procurement (TPP) programme aims to improve public procurement regulation to save the taxpayer money and drive social, environmental and economic benefits across the UK. 

CCS has taken an organisation-wide approach to the implementation of TPP. We wanted to ensure CCS is ready to apply the new procurement rules immediately and our customers can be confident that CCS commercial agreements will continue to drive value, remain compliant, and provide the intended flexibility under the new regime.

Based on our approach and what we have learned so far, we have developed an implementation guidance document where you can find detailed information on our 5 workstream approach, including a checklist of considerations for each workstream. 

Download the guide.

Transforming contact centre services using outsourcing

The requirement

London Borough of Sutton Council, a local authority in South West London, sought to improve its out of hours contact centre service. They aimed to enhance customer service, obtain better information management, and reduce costs.

The solution

In 2022, the council decided to outsource its out of hours contact centre service through our Outsourced Contact Centre and Business Services (RM6181) agreement. Foundever, a specialist supplier on the agreement, was selected for their expertise and shared services model. The key components of the solution included improved customer service, enhanced information management, efficiency and cost savings.

Improved customer service

Foundever deployed a dedicated team of experienced contact centre staff to provide a high level of customer service. The team had access to resources like a customer relationship management (CRM) system and a knowledge base to efficiently address customer inquiries. With sensitive data handling requirements, London Borough of Sutton Council received added value from Foundever with the redesign of legacy processes and enhancing data security.

Enhanced information management

Foundever provided valuable data, including call volumes, customer satisfaction scores, and average handling times, enabling the council to identify areas for improvement.

Cost savings and efficiency

Outsourcing eliminated the need to employ and train in-house staff. The council benefitted from Foundever’s expertise and scalability to handle varying workloads effectively.

The results

This case study demonstrates the benefits of outsourcing to specialist providers, including improved service quality, cost savings, and the ability to focus on core priorities for local authorities. The commitment to partnership from the outset, going above and beyond the initial requirements is a testament to Foundever and the teams which manage and operate the service. Alex Marston, Deputy Head of Customer Experience at London Borough of Sutton Council said:

Foundever has provided us with an improved out of hours offering which has significantly increased answer rates, reduced average wait times and provided us with a much more robust and resilient service. I was impressed with how quickly the Foundever team was able to understand and deliver our business requirements for a complex service.

Add power to your procurement

To find out more about the services we have available to you:

Find out how our tail spend solution can enable broad efficiencies, reduce costs and improve social value for your organisation

Our Tail Spend Solution helps the public sector to better manage and aggregate ‘tail spend’ – often classified as low volume and low value products which organisations usually buy to meet a specific, short term need, such as stationery for schools. However, tail spend can also refer to misspending that presents risks and inefficiencies to government buyers. This can be categorised as: unusual spending, fragmented spending, maverick spending, and misclassified spending. 

It’s estimated that public sector tail spend on goods is currently in excess of £1 billion per year. There is widespread agreement across the sector that it is an under-managed and often overlooked area of spend that is increasingly important for organisations to deal with.

Tail spend – the challenges and the solution

By streamlining the entire process, from search through to payment, the tail spend solution helps to protect an organisation’s most valuable resource: the time of its team members. Our research demonstrates that organisations could expect to see up to a 38% reduction in time spent on purchasing by staff through using our agreement, through reduced invoicing and lower product search costs. This can consequently reduce transaction costs for organisations by up to 35% per transaction. 

Often, with tail spend, the main issue is the sheer amount of ad-hoc purchases made by many staff members, making it hard to track. This can cause a huge strain on budgets. Our research demonstrates how by procuring through the Tail Spend Solution agreement customers can set spend controls and user restrictions, which can reduce rogue or maverick spending – spending that falls outside of the organisation’s procurement guidelines – by almost 10%. 

Improving social value through tail spend

Managing tail spend can also be an effective way for public sector organisations to improve sustainable and local purchasing habits. For example, purchasing through the Tail Spend Solution can allow organisations to increase their purchasing of green products by up to 25% and also increase their spend with local buyers by up to 16% through the use of available spend controls, user restrictions and search filters. 

For example, since the integration of the Tail Spend Solution, the procurement function at the Home Office has made significant strides in improving social value and now boasts a robust understanding of its tail spend. The solution’s detailed reporting tool highlighted social value metrics such as; 40% of orders (circa £925,000) being delivered through SMEs (55 SMEs in total), and 10% of orders (circa £325,000) being delivered through local suppliers. Through the detailed reporting tool, the Home Office has also been able to evidence the aggregation of data and improve supplier and process efficiencies. For example, by only having only 1 supplier as their main point of contact across 3,833 orders, which would have previously been spread across 83 suppliers. 

Find out how you could improve efficiencies for your organisation through using our new tail spend benefits calculator

To demonstrate how public sector customers could potentially improve efficiencies, reduce costs and increase social value, through using our Tail Spend Solution we’ve introduced a new benefits calculator, tailored to the individual needs of organisations. 

The calculator will help schools, charities, the NHS and other public sector and third sector organisations identify how they can make potential savings on a broad range of non-safety critical products. 

Organisations will need to answer a few simple questions to get started, through an online platform, relating to their current annual number of purchases, suppliers used and volume of invoices processed.

Using the example of a medium sized local authority (250-4,999 employees), purchasing a range of product categories covering estates and facilities (2,000 purchase orders), the calculation could demonstrate how the organisation could expect to save over 8,400 hours in manpower and reduce costs by over £465,000 from managing these tail spend purchases through the Tail Spend Solution framework*.

Find out more

Access CCS’s new tail spend calculator.

To find out more about our Tail Spend Solution visit the agreement page.

*This example is based on a medium sized council placing 2,000 purchase orders and managing 2,000 invoices across 200 suppliers within their tail spend, per annum.

Crown Commercial Service publishes its updated SME action plan alongside a VCSE action plan

Alongside this, CCS has also published its voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) action plan, which outlines how CCS will improve the awareness of VCSEs both within CCS and amongst our customers, with the aim of increasing VCSE presence on our agreements and reducing barriers to participation.

SME action plan

The SME action plan sets out CCS’s continued commitment to take positive action to ensure that the SME sector is well represented in our agreements. It reaffirms the organisation’s role in enabling customers to increase the proportion of their procurement spend that goes to SMEs.

The SME action plan also sets out how supporting the growth of the SME sector will generate opportunities to deliver greater social value through public procurement – helping the UK economy to grow.

Richard Denney, Director, Corporate Pillar said:

SMEs bring diversity and innovation to our supply chains, and levelling the playing field for businesses of all sizes will bring economic and social benefits as well as supporting the UK to grow the economy.

Our updated action plan sets out the work we’re doing to ensure we’re continuously creating those opportunities, supporting our customers to improve the value and outcomes delivered through their procurement.

The action plan sets out how CCS is simplifying public procurement processes to make it easier for a diverse range of suppliers to win government contracts, improving market engagement and access, and digitising aspects of the user journey to remove barriers to SME participation.

Public sector spending with SMEs through CCS frameworks increases

By February 2023, nearly 6 in 10 suppliers on CCS agreements were SMEs and 16% of direct spend through these agreements was with SMEs, though many also received ‘indirect’ spend, by acting as subcontractors to larger suppliers.

Direct spend with SMEs through CCS agreements rose by over £1 billion in 2022/23, compared to 2020/21, reaching £3.6 billion in total. The number of SME suppliers winning business through CCS agreements has almost doubled since 2018.

Additionally, the number of SMEs gaining revenue is also showing an upward trend over the past 5 years, increasing from about 800 in April 2018 to 1,500 in December 2022. However, this equates to only 25% of SME suppliers going on to win business meaning that there is still more to do across government to make sure that SMEs are awarded a greater share of the work.

Find out more

To find out more about how CCS is levelling the playing field for suppliers of all sizes, read our action plans or download our digital brochure.

5 steps to becoming a CCS supplier

NB: This article was originally published on 25 January 2024. All information was correct at the time of writing, but may not be fully applicable following the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023.

Could your organisation become a supplier to the public sector?

The public sector spends £billions each year procuring goods and services from the private sector. Winning a contract to deliver services or supplies to public sector buyers is a great way to increase your revenues, enhance your reputation, be reliably paid – with our prompt payment policies, and grow your organisation. 

Contrary to what you might believe, public sector procurement is not just a market for larger organisations and it is not as difficult as it might seem. Many suppliers to the public sector are small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), and some are even micro-businesses.

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) wants to encourage organisations of all sizes to become suppliers. The aim of this article is to help you get started.

How do I get started?

CCS is a ‘central purchasing body’ – the largest in the UK, but there are many regional and sector specific procurement organisations across the UK, for example in local government, the NHS and universities. Many public bodies also have their own procurement teams. 

Why sell through CCS?

Why not start your public sector supplier journey by finding out how you could become a CCS supplier?

At CCS, our primary role is managing and streamlining the procurement process for the government departments and public sector organisations we represent. 

Through our commercial agreements we can help you sell to 20,000 UK public sector buyers spending over £31 billion a year. 

Our customers can buy from across 83 categories of common goods and services. CCS agreements cover communications services, construction, eCommerce, energy, fleet, technology, office solutions, print, professional services (including temporary labour) through to property and facilities management, research and travel.

How we’re making it easier for suppliers of all sizes to sell through the public sector

We have a clear and driven focus on making it easier for all businesses to bid for work – regardless of size. We understand the importance of having a diverse range of suppliers working with the public sector. To achieve this, our bidding process aims to foster healthy competition and bring the right market expertise to offer customers quality and value without disadvantaging or compromising suppliers. We work to do that in a number of ways, including: 

  • publishing details of upcoming procurements on our website so that suppliers can plan what they want to bid for
  • using data and insight in our category strategies to understand what our customers actually need and what the supply market can offer, which enables us to write bid packs that make it really clear to suppliers what the requirements are 
  • implementing the Prompt Payment Policy which means that, as of April 2021, companies that fail to pay 85% of their invoices within 60 days will be excluded from bidding for major central government contracts. This supports smaller businesses in their supply chain.

How to sell your goods and services to UK public sector buyers

*​​Our commercial agreements are currently split into 2 main types: ‘frameworks’ and ‘Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS)’. All of our current live agreements are listed on our agreement page. 

CCS has also created a ‘closed category’ Low Value Purchase System, specifically for low cost, low value and uncomplicated common goods and services including from SMEs and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise suppliers. The value of the contract for these goods and services must not exceed the limits set out in the Procurement Policy Note (PPN) for Public Contract Thresholds 20/21.

For the purpose of this article, below is a brief description of how frameworks and DPSs work and how to tender for each:

What is a framework?

Framework agreements help the public sector to buy goods and services from businesses. 

Frameworks include a description of common public sector requirements, a list of suppliers who have been evaluated as capable of providing the requirements, and standardised contract terms. Frameworks are often divided into lots, typically by product or service type. 

Suppliers bid or ‘tender’ competitively to be awarded places on frameworks. Each framework is different, but as a general rule, suppliers must demonstrate how they can provide the goods and services required to an agreed standard. Suppliers will also need to meet the terms of our buyer assurance process as well as explain how they can generate social value, or meet carbon net zero targets.

We assess all of the tenders received from suppliers before the framework goes live and award places based on factors such as the ones listed above. Once suppliers have been awarded a place on an agreement, they can tender for work from public services that use the framework (see below).

Tendering for frameworks: how it works

To be considered as an appointed supplier on a CCS framework you need to express an interest in any procurement you intend to bid for. 

There are no joining fees, suppliers simply pay a small commission (or levy) based purely on the value of the sales they make through the framework. The commission varies by agreement but currently averages just 0.33%. If the supplier is not successfully awarded a contract and achieves no work through the agreement, then CCS does not charge a levy.

CCS must follow a formal process to ensure procurement regulations are met. When a new agreement need is identified, or when an expiring agreement needs to be renewed, opportunities for suppliers to be awarded places on the framework will be publicly listed. 

You can use Find a Tender to search for high-value opportunities. These are agreements with an estimated total lifetime value of over £138,760. You can find contracts over £12,000 (or £30,000 outside central government) on Contracts Finder – for England and other non-devolved parts of the UK. LVPS opportunities are listed on our website. 

It is only by responding to a contract notice in the Find a Tender service that you can tender to become a supplier on one of our DPSs or framework agreements.

In the case of frameworks, once it has been awarded, additional suppliers cannot then be added. You will need to wait until the next relevant tender opportunity arises. New procurements typically start several months in advance of the current arrangement’s expiry date. 

If there are no relevant tender opportunities currently available for your area of business, it may be possible for you to subcontract your services to suppliers on existing agreements. If you are interested in potential subcontracting opportunities please contact the relevant supplier directly.

What is a Dynamic Purchasing System?

DPSs are similar to frameworks, but as their name suggests, they are more ‘dynamic’ to encourage innovation and suppliers can join at any time during the agreement’s life.

We use pre-arranged checks based on a range of criteria to create a list of suppliers that customers can filter to suit their needs. This ensures that customers have access to a continuously updated field of suppliers and also gives suppliers the opportunity to bid for public sector contracts at any point in the agreement’s life cycle.

The application process for joining a DPS is usually quicker and simpler than for a standard framework and suppliers can offer additional services throughout the life of the DPS should their business expand into new areas, providing these new services fall under the remit of the original agreement scope.

You can find the DPSs we currently offer on our website. You’ll be able to find information on what the DPS is about and register as a supplier on the Dynamic Purchasing System Marketplace.

Tendering for a DPS: How it works

You will need to complete a standard Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ). If you have met the exclusion and selection criteria in the PQQ you will then be added to the DPS. If you are not added as a supplier you will be given useful feedback to help you re-apply.

Approved buyers award individual contracts through the DPS. The buyer invites all suppliers on the DPS (or all those included in their filtered selection based on their requirements) to compete and bid for a specific contract.

5 steps to becoming a CCS supplier

CCS procurements are conducted using our eSourcing portal. You will need to be registered on the eSourcing portal to participate in CCS tender opportunities. To register you will need to provide information including: full legal name of your organisation; your DUNS number – a unique nine-digit number provided to organisations free of charge; profile information describing your organisation and the size of your business.

Every agreement will have specific instructions about how to tender as a supplier. You will be able to find these in the tender documents included on the publicly available listing, however you will usually have to follow these steps:

  • read the invitation to tender and ask any clarification questions. CCS will answer the questions and share them with all bidders for transparency purposes
  • submit a tender before the tender deadline
  • monitor our eSourcing portal in case we have any clarification questions
  • monitor the eSourcing portal for the outcome of the evaluation. During this time CCS will evaluate all the tenders. This includes the selection questionnaire, answers to each quality question and the pricing submission.
  • If you are successful, you will sign and return your agreement. You may then be invited to bid on call off competitions from public sector buyers. We have a standard template for framework contracts for common goods and services. You can see our standard core terms and conditions, along with schedule templates. Please note that different agreements change the terms depending on the category subject and you should be mindful of checking that and raising questions during clarification. 

More: You can now find all of our Procurement Essentials articles in one place on our website. 

*From Autumn 2024, the regulations that govern how money is spent on public sector goods, works and services will change. The Cabinet Office is leading the TPP programme. Visit the Transforming Public Procurement webpage for more detailed information on how suppliers can prepare for implementing the new regime.

Public sector printing at lightning speed

The requirement

When The Church Commissioners for England faced an urgent need to print and distribute some important committee papers, they turned to the Print Marketplace for a solution. 

Their requirements included printing 240 pages, collation and delivery within a 3 day timeframe.

How did the Print Marketplace add value?

By using the Print Marketplace’s assisted quote service, The Church Commissioners had a customer support team on hand to provide guidance and advice on print formats.

The team were able to access quotes from compliant, pre-qualified print suppliers. Thanks to the large pool of Print Marketplace pre-qualified suppliers, it was possible to stick to the tight turnaround time.

The results

The support team chose the supplier that could turn the job around the fastest, and The Church Commissioners had their committee papers printed and delivered to recipients within the deadline.

Eve,from The Church Commissioners said:
“I have used the Print Marketplace Support Team through the assisted service route to produce several batches of urgent Committee papers. The support team always find a supplier to produce and deliver the papers, using local companies where appropriate.”

Further information

Print Marketplace is a UK-wide digital tool for purchasing printed material, including brochures, flyers, leaflets, business cards, letterheads and other transactional print. Register for a Print Marketplace account.

Sustaining Sustainability – announcing our updated Carbon Reduction Plan

We’re pleased to announce that at the end of December, the CCS Executive Board approved the latest updated version of the Carbon Reduction Plan for our organisation.

This document sets out how we will measure and achieve our goal of making CCS a Carbon Net Zero (CNZ) organisation by the government’s target date of 2050 at the latest. That ‘at the latest’ should be emphasised – it is our intention to ‘walk the walk’ and lead by example, with our stretch target being to achieve CNZ by 2040.

A Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) is an essential requirement for suppliers who are seeking inclusion within CCS frameworks under the criteria of the Cabinet Office policy requirement PPN 06/21. Find out more on our CNZ and Sustainability pages.

The approval of our own updated plan restates the real commitment of CCS to meeting the challenge of the climate crisis, and to be the provider of choice for sustainable public sector procurement solutions.

If you need help in creating a carbon reduction plan, take a look at our dedicated page.

Customer newsletter for January

Welcome to our monthly newsletter.

Read the January issue of our customer newsletter.

If you don’t currently receive our monthly customer newsletter, you can sign up by completing this short form. Each month, we’ll send you our latest news stories and case studies, as well as information on upcoming aggregation opportunities, events, webinars and much more.

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.

New open banking agreement launched to reduce fraud and improve prompt payment across the public sector

The new RM6301 Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) enables the public sector to access a complete suite of open banking services and account to account payment under a single agreement for the first time. 

These services, which allow for read-only financial data to be shared between banks and third-party service providers, are designed to provide access to quicker, cheaper and more accurate banking services versus conventional payment acceptance methods, such as debit cards. By negating fees incurred by traditional debit card payments, it is believed the DPS could help achieve savings of 70-80%. 

The services offered under the agreement could also help reduce the volume of fraudulent or in-error payments made throughout the public sector by confirming or denying the identity of account holders. This will unlock the ability of open banking to clamp down on fraudulent activity, including false tax and benefit claims. 

The DPS will offer customers 3 types of services to the public sector:

  • digital payment services – allowing users to make or receive payments digitally, without the need for bank cards
  • account information services – supplying account information, with users’ consent, as part of processes such as fraud identification, income verification and identity confirmation
  • confirmation of payee services – providing checking services on names or accounts to verify individuals and/or organisations

Through this DPS, customers will have access to new innovations and applications as new use cases arise, with suppliers able to join at any time over its 8-year duration.

Simon Tse, CEO of Crown Commercial Service said:

We’re delighted to be launching the first comprehensive open banking agreement in the public sector, offering significant savings and vital innovations in financial capability. This solution is built on extensive market engagement with a range of providers, from major banks to fintech start-ups and government institutions.

The flexible agreement reaffirms our commitment to providing maximum value to our customers, and opens up opportunities for a diverse spectrum of suppliers in an exciting emerging market.

Innovations and benefits

  • allow for more accurate understanding of personal financial circumstances, enabling more precise assessment of means 
  • enables vulnerable members of society to receive vital payments quicker
  • removing many of the delays associated with traditional payment methods across the public sector, allowing payments to be made and received in real-time
  • easier for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up a large number of the UK’s existing open banking providers, to become suppliers
  • DPS structure means suppliers can meet evolving customer needs on an ongoing basis

Find out more

To find out more about the Open Banking DPS visit the agreement webpage or contact the CCS Service Desk at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk / 0345 410 2222.

Don’t forget, you can 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.