Sheffield City Council secures a transparent and trusted partner for gas supply

The requirement

Sheffield City Council’s gas supply contract was due for renewal and they wanted to ensure
they were getting the best value out of the way they purchased gas. It was the ideal time to
complete a retrospective price review and look at how they buy energy to create more
transparency.

The council also wanted to improve account management so they could feel confident of
receiving prompt support from their chosen partner when needed. Sheffield City Council
contacted our regional customer experience team for help to complete a market
assessment. Having a local approach to customer engagement across the local government
sector allows us to be more focused on where help is needed. We were quickly able to give
Sheffield our full support and attention.

Gas supply is a major cost for the council. Continuity of supply is important to ensure
services continue to be delivered particularly during periods of uncertainty. The year of the
COVID-19 pandemic brought this into sharp relief.

The solution

Our Supply of Energy and Ancillary Services agreement lot 3 Natural Gas and ancillary
services were set up with a focus on efficiency and value. The agreement delivers great
prices through the aggregated buying power of the government.

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) worked closely with Sheffield City Council to support their
benchmarking activity. Energy industry expertise and advice was provided by John Moors in
our energy category. Phil Hodgson from our regional customer experience team provided
bespoke account management support.

We completed a thorough review of the council’s gas supply cost for previous years. We
compared the performance of their current provider against historical data and considered
general market performance. This gave a transparent opinion on how CCS and the
incumbent had performed during this period when compared to market trends.

At the same time, we considered what might happen with future energy supply and the
customer appetite for risk exposure. In this way, we’re able to make confident predictions on
the best buying approach for the council and the schools it supports.

At all stages, we listened to the customer to understand what they needed from a future
relationship so that we could agree on a support structure that was personalised to their needs.

We played an active role throughout the review process over several months. Through
weekly meetings, we helped Sheffield City Council address needs such as:

● achieving value for money
● delivering a transparent buying strategy
● providing enhanced support and account management

This information was critical for the council’s leadership team to make an informed choice.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team of experts continued to communicate through
video conferences to ensure a successful conclusion to the project despite a rapidly evolving
working environment. We worked flexibly to support the customer’s timeline, agreeing on an
approach that suited their needs.

The results

Buying energy can be extremely unpredictable due to the number of factors that need to be
considered. Our analysis clearly showed that the CCS buying strategy had outperformed
Sheffield’s incumbent supplier for the same period by 21%. Our approach gave us
confidence that having outperformed the market in previous years our recommendation
would perform favourably for the council and local schools.

To monitor buying performance and service delivery, we established a bespoke approach for
the council. This means that Sheffield can be confident of how it manages and buys its
future gas supply. As well as our industry-leading performance reports and energy category
team support, Sheffield City Council has a named account manager and can look forward to
regular review meetings and fast efficient help and advice when it’s needed.

We’ve helped to ensure that the councils buying strategy is fully transparent and compliant
with all government energy buying requirements. At the same time, the council can look
forward to a value for money service that is well supported with robust risk management in
place.

Our approach is completely driven by customer needs and Sheffield was able to benefit from
our flexibility during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CCS provided a professional customer support function throughout the process. Through
regular contact they were always on hand to answer queries and provide advice which
enabled us to make key decisions within tight timeframes.

Chris Trotter, Energy Manager

Sheffield Council has a large energy portfolio so it’s important for us to have confidence
we’re getting good value from our buying strategy. CCS helped us to better understand
market drivers and how we could save money buying gas through their agreement. They
provided a great deal of insight, which gave us the confidence to work with them, and we
have ongoing support we can call upon when needed.

Sian Holmes, Interim Head of Procurement and Supply Chain

The Council was looking to renew their gas contract and having identified the possible
routes to market, the Council reached out to CCS to further explore the CCS gas framework.
CCS provided invaluable support and advice throughout the process as well as
benchmarking the best possible market price. The CCS team were quick to understand our
needs and were ready and able to support the Council throughout the procurement process.
The resulting contract will help deliver crucial savings to the Council over the coming years.

Sarah Rani, Procurement and Supply Chain Manager (Energy Category)

Get help to save money for energy supply

Make smart buying decisions for the supply of energy with our Supply of Energy and
Ancillary Services agreement (RM6011).

To learn how our agreement can support you, view our web page or complete our online
form and our team of commercial experts will be in touch.

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.

Becoming a HCSA member adds power to your procurement

The Health Care Supply Association (HCSA) promotes the work of procurement and supply chain staff at all levels in healthcare. Providing a variety of training events and educational seminars, HCSA focuses on supporting the personal and professional development of its members and the NHS procurement profession.

As a corporate partner, CCS works closely with HCSA to support the valuable work they do across the health sector to improve procurement quality and knowledge. This is why we’re encouraging our customers to become a member, free of charge, and access a range of exciting benefits:

  • access to national and regional networks of procurement professionals 
  • online discussion forum, online help and advice service and members only website section
  • monthly e-newsletter with latest updates across the industry
  • access to the HCSA’s training and development study days
  • copy of HCSA’s Procurement Guide
  • preferential rates for HCSA events
  • access to membership of Special Interest Groups aligned to members’ needs

Visit the HCSA website to sign up for your free membership.

Join our LinkedIn Health Community for our latest updates in the Health sector.

Nottingham College appoints local SME to carry out a restoration project on their Grade II listed campus

The requirement

Nottingham College needed to procure a package of construction works for a comprehensive internal makeover, against a challenging deadline and limited budget. 

The college wanted to create new and inviting spaces within their Grade II listed Adams Building, which forms part of the college’s campus, for existing and prospective students to undertake their studies. 

In order for the college to open on time to students and allow the curriculum to be delivered as scheduled, the work would have to be completed in a 4 month period. 

The solution

Nottingham College chose to use the ‘Construction Works and Associated Services’ framework for their procurement, as it provided a trusted and reliable vehicle for procuring a diverse range of services. The framework allowed them to work at pace within procurement boundaries that adhered to our college financial regulations.

Following a competitive bid process, works were undertaken by J Tomlinson Ltd in 2 phases. This included significant internal alterations, repairs and maintenance works across the 7-storey building, including the relocation of the College’s hair and beauty salon facilities.

The supplier worked closely with conservation specialists to deliver an ambitious refurbishment and restoration project across the 1800s-built building that preserved its striking features and heritage status.

The results 

Joanna Cranshaw, Capital Projects Manager from Nottingham College said:

The process was efficient, providing the college with an excellent platform to access reputable building contractors which had already been vetted by CCS.

Using the framework, Nottingham College appointed a local SME who was efficient, co-operative and proactive. We worked with our professional advisors and CCS throughout the bid process to ensure the procurement was delivered on time, in full.

Nottingham College was very pleased with the service CCS provided. As first time users of the CCS framework we were provided with excellent guidance and assistance from Craig Garsed, commercial agreements manager, and Mark Alley, technical support. Both were extremely helpful, resolving all issues raised promptly and completely to our satisfaction. We wouldn’t hesitate to use the framework again.

Let us add power to your procurement

To find out how you can access Construction services through CCS fill in this short form. 

Join our Construction community on LinkedIn to stay up to date with our latest news and share insights across the sector with peers.

Find out more about our Construction frameworks.

Changes to our frameworks in August

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 August  

Frameworks extended in August 

Frameworks that expired in August 

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.

New ‘end-to-end’ outsourced contact centre and business services agreement goes live

The new agreement went live on 10 September, and builds on the success of the existing Contact Centres agreement (RM3815), due to expire in March 2022. It will include significant improvements such as a broader range of suppliers, flexible delivery models, volume discounting for customers, as well as updated terms and conditions reflective of the Government Sourcing Playbook.

For the first time, the public sector will also have access to a brand new scope (Lot 2 – Business Services) providing access to HR, financial accounting, source-to-pay and payroll outsourcing services. The structure of the new contact centre and business services framework, as well as the enhanced specification follows extensive customer and market engagement activity. 

David Skinner, Commercial Director, Crown Commercial Service says: 

The new agreement provides customers with a broader offering, shaping how outsourced contact centres and business services can be provided to the public sector. It enables organisations to buy a multitude of outsourced services at once as opposed to having to do multiple procurements, which will save time and money.

This is another and the latest example of how CCS is putting customers at the heart of everything we do to help support the public sector to improve efficiencies and build back better.

COVID-19 support

Since its launch in 2018 CCS’s Contact Centre’s framework has supported the delivery of  critical, citizen-facing services. It has been crucial in supporting the response to the pandemic, particularly NHS Test and Trace, the Covid-19 Vaccines Helpline and the Covid Vaccination Certification Status Service. 

The new agreement takes into consideration recent market changes including COVID-19 and the prevalence of remote working by including flexible delivery models and specific rate types for home workers. It will also include scope for new technologies in contact centre services to help support self-serve where appropriate.

Contact Centre – improvements

  • the number of available suppliers has been increased from 8 to 15 to reflect the growth in demand for customer experience centres, and the need to have a diverse pool of suppliers
  • volume discounts have been included in the new agreement to reflect recent market trends for large service centres 
  • the commercial model has been improved to increase transparency for customers by including various rate types to allow organisations to understand costs associated with different delivery models 

Business Process Services – benefits

  • access to the full range of back office functions in a single procurement, saving time and providing value for money
  • access to market-leading suppliers with the capacity to support requirements across the full spectrum of services, from organisations requiring a small payroll service, to large-scale transformation programmes
  • input from central government functions including HR and finance to ensure that it is aligned to government priorities and standards, which other public sector organisations can benefit from
  • tailored to market trends and innovations supporting the Government’s ‘Digital First’ strategy. Enhanced specification including the latest robotic process automation technology (RPA) 

Find out more

To find out more about the Outsourced Contact Centre and Business Services framework  visit the agreement webpage or contact the CCS Service Desk at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk or 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.

Support financial wellbeing with an employee discount scheme

So far, employers have done a fantastic job supporting staff during the pandemic, with 81% of employees responding to the Edenred research saying they’ve done a good job. Employers must now ensure they don’t take their foot off the gas as signs of fatigue start to show. This is a threat that may continue to be felt well into 2022 as we learn to live with the virus.

One clear message to emerge from research is that while employees are impressed by the dedication managers are showing to their wellbeing, support tends to focus on physical and mental aspects of wellbeing, less so on financial wellbeing. In fact, 21% of employees say support for their financial wellbeing falls short of their expectations.

Countless studies show the detrimental impact financial worries have on mental health.  This means that any wellbeing strategy must include a specific focus on helping staff to manage finances and debt. 

Support your employees’ wellbeing

As the costs of everyday household items, as well as bigger ticket items, continues to rise, you can support employee wellbeing by giving your staff access to shopping discounts at big-brand online and high street retailers through our Employee Benefits framework. It offers hundreds of ways to save on spending, whether it’s on the daily essentials, the latest tech or making travel plans.

And with Black Friday around the corner, now is the perfect time to give your employees access to these benefits. 

With a handy mobile app, as well as an online platform, your employees will be able to quickly and easily make substantial savings anytime, and anywhere. 

Lots of ways to save

Employees will be able to enjoy a ‘discount on a discount’ when they make a purchase.  For example, when a retailer runs a promotion for an event like Black Friday, Cyber Monday or Christmas, employees enjoy the discount advertised by the retailer and an additional reduction through the discount scheme.

You can also offer employees a tech salary sacrifice scheme.  This means staff can buy new technology, mobile phones, gaming devices or household appliances and spread the cost over the year ahead with small deductions taken from their monthly pay packet.

Already using the discount scheme?

Don’t forget to remind employees to use it and of the savings they can make.  Edenred can provide a free-of-charge communications programme to help increase engagement all year round. If your employees use the scheme, you’ll get the strategic benefits of talent retention and being seen as an employer of choice.

Find out more

All these financial benefits from Edenred are available through our Employee Benefits framework. 

You can 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.

Schools in Tower Hamlets set to save £250,000 on supply teachers

The requirement

Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THEP) was established by school leaders to deliver high quality school improvement to all primary, secondary and special educational needs (SEN) schools in  Tower Hamlets.

Schools in Tower Hamlets wanted to review the way they sourced temporary workers, and were looking to develop a solution that provided value for money and quality, whilst ensuring compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THE Partnership), the school improvement organisation that almost all local schools are members of, took the lead in identifying and implementing a solution on behalf of their member schools.    

The solution

Through initial consultations with Reed and THE Partnership’s key stakeholders, it was identified a managed service solution would meet the key objectives of the schools. The next step for THE Partnership was to decide on the most suitable route to market for their managed service. Through a collaborative partnership between ourselves and Reed, THE Partnership was able to identify that lot 2 of the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staff framework would be the most suitable solution for their schools requirements. 

Reed held sessions with school business manager and head teacher groups to understand their needs and create a steering group. This group was instrumental to the successful implementation of the service, collectively making decisions on things like pay rates and supply chain. 

Brendan Crossan, THE Partnership Operations Director said:

Gavin and David were very responsive to engaging with stakeholders and explaining how a managed service works and its benefits, as well as what Reed would bring in terms of experience and expertise. Service implementation was well planned and involved extensive client consultation.

Hasib Hikmat, School Business Manager (SBM) and SBM Forum Co-ordinator added: 

Reed undertook several consultations, including presentations and Q&A sessions. Their approach was all about building trusting relationships with no hard sell, which worked.

This approach enabled THE Partnership and Reed to work together proactively to ensure an effective managed service provision. As the master vendor Reed worked to understand each school’s needs, helping them to effectively match the right candidates to the right roles.

As part of the consultation process with schools, it was agreed to name the managed service Tower Hamlets Education Recruitment Services (THERS) to give it a brand identity. THERS is now widely discussed and promoted across all Tower Hamlets schools. It is also becoming recognised in the candidate community, which has helped attract teachers and support staff to the borough.

Reed also worked with THE Partnership to identify suitable supply chain members who could meet the schools’ high standards and ensure candidate availability. As a result of successfully placing a large number of candidates in early years and nursery settings, Reed identified the need to further strengthen the supply chain in this area to keep ahead of demand and maintain high quality. This resulted in a collective focus for recruitment with the existing supply chain and the addition of two new suppliers.

Reed also supported THE Partnership’s member schools with technology so they can book candidates online, as well as view factors like compliance. Reed invited school staff to join user group meetings to provide feedback on this technology. Feedback from front office staff that used the system less regularly was that they found it difficult to identify which temporary workers were in school on a given day, so they could verify staff as they arrived. Taking this feedback on board, Reed developed solutions, including access to all compliant candidate packs in order of newest to oldest and a more visible audit pack. 

These solutions were quickly adopted and received positive feedback for streamlining the process. 

The result

The managed service provision was successfully implemented in September 2020 and THERS is now used by 30 schools across Tower Hamlets. The service is on target to save schools over £150,000 in the first year, which equates to a 9% saving. Savings are expected to reach up to £250,000 in the next academic year.

The managed service is providing a consistent and efficient service, whilst ensuring quality, value for money and compliance. The schools using THERS are receiving consistent, pre-negotiated terms and conditions and pricing, including free transfer to permanent after 12 weeks (with 4 weeks’ notice).

Hasib Hikmat commented:

The service makes it easier to fill long term vacancies and there is less bureaucracy, more positive relationships and better value for money.

Let us add power to your procurement

Our Supply Teachers and Temporary Staff in Educational Establishments framework is supported by the Department for Education. 

To find out how we can support your temporary staff needs:

Customer newsletters for August

Welcome to our monthly newsletters. You can read the latest news most relevant to the sector you work in by selecting the appropriate link below:

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 the newsletter most relevant to you, based on your organisation. 

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.

Benefits beyond cost with new approaches to alert paging

Alert paging has been a robust method of contacting people for many decades. Features and functionality may seem basic compared with today’s technology but it remains cost-effective, non-intrusive and simple to manage. 

However, the national alert paging infrastructure that underpins the service, and the number of suppliers offering paging solutions, has dramatically reduced over the last decade. This leaves users at risk of increased costs and disruption to long-term service continuity. 

For this reason, many organisations are now considering new approaches to alert paging that can improve the effectiveness of contact management while boosting staff productivity. 

The replacement journey

The first step for any organisation considering a change from alert paging to a more future-proofed solution is to conduct a thorough audit of their current communication platforms and channels. 

Do you use email and intranet? Mobile and messaging? Fixed voice or work-based applications? Additionally, ways of working, locations, how individuals interact with existing applications and communication devices, and policies around tools and devices, will all need to be assessed. 

Conducting an audit will give an organisation a clear understanding of the types of solution that must be considered and allow for a set of requirements to be established. Once this is done, consideration can then be given to the types of contact management solutions currently available.  

Potential solutions include: 

  • like-for-like replacement: careful consideration should be given to adopting a like-for-like replacement. The UK national paging infrastructure is operated by a single supplier and has inherent risks to costs and service availability
  • like-for-like using on-site paging: moving from a national paging provider to a locally implemented solution offers a simple migration path for users and operators. However, it is vital to assess the estate for how radio access points would be installed and the existing WiFi network to ensure it can provide additional coverage and contact assurance
  • two-way paging: two-way pagers offer an affirmative response to being alerted, reducing time wasted in waiting for responses, or creating duplicate alerts to alternative users
  • enhanced multimedia paging devices: these devices deliver more content rich information such as video, images, text, and numbers. Due to the nature of these messages, encryption and security should be priority concerns when selecting this type of solution.
  • mobile phone messaging/bulk text messaging: relying on standard mobile messaging is a valid alternative and with many users already having mobile phones, may offer a reduced cost. These solutions have been enabled by the pervasive availability of WiFi, 3G/4G and offer a simple direct replacement for legacy paging alerts. However, battery life, mobile connectivity and coverage, management of alerts (delivery and read receipts), and ensuring users carry their phones at all times need to be assessed.
  • secure mobile phone messaging applications: this solution builds on the mobile phone messaging capability by adding additional alerting applications to securely manage delivery and alerts. This has proven to be very successful in many public sector organisations.

Replacing paging technology – benefits beyond cost 

Getting to the right people, with the right information, in a timely manner can save significant time and make employees more efficient. As the public sector begins to recover from the impact of COVID-19, ensuring every employee spends every minute as effectively as possible has never been more important. 

To drive further benefits, organisations must evaluate how their new contact solution is integrated into existing communication networks and solutions. Blindly integrating mobile, fixed voice, messaging applications, email, and paging into a single contact solution may seem ideal, but does not guarantee realisation of benefits.

Furthermore, ensuring a replacement system complies to open standards and interfaces will provide a future roadmap for integration and achieving additional benefits.

We’re here to help

If you want to learn more about how CCS can help your organisation implement a future-proofed contact solution: 

Changes to our frameworks in July

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 July  

Frameworks extended in July

Frameworks that expired in July 

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. 

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.