Keeping critical information safe with a new network infrastructure for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust employs 5,500 staff who deliver vital healthcare services to inpatients and outpatients at the local general hospital, alongside community services for the 250,000 strong local population.

To securely manage and store vital information about patients, treatments and equipment, and keep that critical information safe, they needed a stable and reliable network solution to replace their ageing data centre. 

The requirement

The existing data centre for the Trust was located at their main hospital and was coming to the end of its usable life. As servers age, their reliability and performance decrease, while their ability to support new applications declines.

With a traditional data centre infrastructure, such as the one used by the Trust, there are separate silos to manage for compute, storage and virtualisation, making the network run too slowly. As a result, the Trust was not able to implement new technology as there was no guarantee it would run effectively on its old servers. 

In addition, the Trust’s backup solution was not up to the job of supporting its business requirements and, without adequate backup, they risked not complying with data management regulations.

Scoping out a new solution required forward planning. The production and hardware platforms would have to support the Trust’s business needs, as well as being able to handle future demand over the next 5 years. 

The entire platform, including the primary and secondary site, network, backup software and hardware would need to be procured for a fixed budget.

The solution 

Through our Technology Products and Associated Services framework, the Trust carried out a further competition to decide on their chosen provider, with Insight emerging as the successful supplier. 

As part of an initial review, the supplier carried out a technical workshop with the Trust to determine the most effective solution for the network infrastructure. This led to Insight suggesting that the Trust’s ageing traditional 3-tier infrastructure be replaced with an enterprise cloud environment.

The new infrastructure consisted of the Nutanix hyperconverged VMware vSphere solution that would run the Trust’s business workload. This new solution is much less complex than the previous infrastructure because it integrates the server, storage, virtualisation and networking. And, to address the Trust’s need to manage future demand, the Nutanix enterprise cloud platform provides the ability to run any application at any scale.

To protect the Trust’s data, Insight recommended Veeam Backup and Replication, which is designed for virtual environments. The software enables users to back up, restore and replicate functionality on virtual machines. The Trust can run full or incremental backups and receive automated verification once the data has been recovered.

Finally, for maximum reliability, Insight proposed that the solution should be spread across 4 different locations: 2 locations to protect the Trust’s workload using the Nutanix Metro cluster, and another 2 locations to protect the backup data.

Once the infrastructure was designed, Insight tested the failover and failback of the workload. This ensured that the Trust’s data could be fully protected and returned following a disaster or a period of scheduled maintenance.

The benefits 

  • the Trust can now scale up its infrastructure and adopt new applications and technologies with no limits
  • with a software-defined solution that integrates all IT resources to run any application, it is much easier to manage the infrastructure.
  • having an enterprise cloud platform, the Trust can be more agile in the way it works, adapting its technology estate to its evolving needs.
  • the Trust is now able to comply with the ‘321 backup strategy’ rule, which states that organisations should have three copies of their data on two different media (disk and tape) with one copy offsite for disaster recovery
  • the new backup solution protects the Trust against the risk of ransomware and insider threats with enhanced S3 object storage integration and immutable backups
  • without needing to manage an external storage area network (SAN), the Trust is reducing its use of power, cooling and space
  • the simplicity of the new infrastructure frees up IT resources to focus on vital initiatives and transformation for the future of the Trust

Let us add power to your procurement

Our Technology Products and Associated Services framework offers a flexible way to buy IT hardware, off-the-shelf software and associated services to suit your organisation’s technology needs.

To find out how we can help you, you can:

Supporting citizens’ changing payment preferences

Payment acceptance is the process by which providers of goods and services are paid by their customers. In a public sector setting, this could be HRMC taking taxes, an NHS Trust accepting money for parking, or a local authority receiving payment for use of its leisure facilities.

Before the pandemic, many organisations viewed payment acceptance as an irregular but necessary business function. As such, when the associated costs – processing fees, card fees, hosted online payment pages, or chip and pin terminals – arose, they were seen as an unavoidable outlay. 

However, the pandemic has seen a rapid shift towards electronic payments. The reduction in cash as the preferred payment method has highlighted the value and strategic importance of developing a cost-effective and value-driven payment strategy. 

This is especially important to public sector organisations in the current climate, where every pound and every hour must be spent as efficiently as possible.

Contact-free payments

The shift towards a cashless society, while already underway, accelerated quickly during the pandemic. The increase from a £30 limit for contactless payments to £45 proved a key driver in the move away from cash payments. With the limit set to increase to £100 later this year, it is certain the shift towards cashless payments is here to stay.

Already this has led to the volume of contactless payments increasing across virtually all sectors and, with consumers demanding contactless payments, organisations had to respond.

Even the smallest of organisations have been forced to react and take card payments. This is usually done via a Mobile Point of Sale – similar to a chip and pin device and links directly to the merchant’s smartphone. Having discovered how easy this is to do, with functionality that can be set up in hours, it seems highly likely this will continue.

Change driving innovation

Since the early days of the pandemic, when the direction of travel became apparent, Payment Acceptance providers, such as those suppliers on our RM6118 Payment Acceptance framework, have been working to create products or features that tackle the challenges organisations are facing. 

QR code payments

One solution is to offer quick response (QR) code payments, enabling organisations to create quick and secure contactless transactions with ease. This gives organisations the ability to accept touch-free payments, without the cost of new hardware. 

QR code payments are becoming increasingly popular, especially in the charity sector. For minimal cost, and without investing in new hardware or launching a new app, these organisations can accept donations or payments with ease. 

There have been some innovative uses of this new technology across the public sector. For example, some art galleries now place a QR code next to a painting. Customers can scan the code and then pick up a print on their way out of the gallery. 

Link to pay

Some organisations have utilised payment links to invoices (an emailed link that a customer can click on to pay their bill online) to support payments that were typically taken over the phone by staff at their call centres or offices in a face-to-face environment. 

The government’s public information website, gov.uk, uses our Payment Acceptance framework to provide this service to government departments or local government bodies. 

Payment links can be set up in minutes and require no technical integration. They are hosted on gov.uk, so citizens know they can trust them. Some departments have added links to email replies enabling citizens to pay online invoices for the first time.

Effective solutions for a stronger future

It is now clear that citizens want the flexibility and agility to pay however and whenever to continue.

This means all organisations, from a large government department to a small charity, now must accept cashless payment and have robust plans to deal with the challenges online payment presents, such as higher rates of card fraud and friction with customer authentication.

Our Payment Acceptance framework provides a proven, secure and innovative way to accept payments with a commercial benefit rate of 15% against typical market rates. 

To learn more: 

For more information about how our suite of Financial Services solutions that can help you build back better, whether you need to generate, recover or save money, visit our category page or read our new whitepaper: ‘Effective solutions for a stronger future’. 

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.

How to write a procurement specification

NB: This article was originally published on 16 November 2021. All information was correct at the time of writing, but may not be fully applicable following the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023.

It’s the most important document within the tender process. Here are our top tips on how to write a specification.

What is a specification?

In a procurement context, a specification can be defined as a ‘statement of needs or requirements’. It provides a detailed description of the goods or services a supplier is expected to supply during the lifetime of the contract. It is also a record against which suppliers can be measured and is legally binding. 

It should encourage fair and open competition within the marketplace and help suppliers make informed decisions on whether to bid. 

Why is it important to get it right?

Specification writing is an important and underrated skill. A supplier shouldn’t need to make assumptions – a good specification must include all the right information to enable them to cost up goods or services accurately so a customer can compare bids on a like for like basis. Your specification mustn’t mislead suppliers or give them false expectations.

Mistakes with specifications can result in poor service and a waste of public money. You might even breach procurement rules and face legal challenges.

What types of specifications are there?

There are two main types of specification – the input and the output specification.

Before you start, be clear on which one you are writing.

Input specifications

An input specification sets out exactly what is required. 

Typically, the solution required by the contract is set out in full and no (or little) further development is needed. This type of specification gives a clear and rigid framework within which the supplier’s performance can be monitored. However, the lack of flexibility means that there is little or no incentive for the supplier to innovate or improve service delivery. 

Over-specifying can also add cost to the product or service – make sure that the ‘gold-plated’ option is what you really need.

Output specifications

Output specifications define only the outcomes (or outputs) that are required by the contract, that is, what the supplier is expected to deliver. Output specifications can offer suppliers greater flexibility for developing innovative solutions. 

Remember that you do still need to include the relevant standards or legislation, for example health and safety requirements that will apply to the goods or services you are procuring. 

How to write a specification – top tips

Take time to get it right. A good specification is created through the planning and research undertaken before writing. 

Start by agreeing a timetable and roles and responsibilities. Who is going to write it? Ideally it should be led by someone with relevant skills and experience such as a procurement practitioner or technical specialist. Most local authorities have procurement specialists who might be able to advise smaller local organisations without in-house expertise.

Engage as early as possible with key stakeholders for input (e.g. customers, internal and external technical experts) to help draft and develop it. Make sure that any market engagement carried out to develop your specification is transparent, open and fair. This means asking potential suppliers the same questions and giving each one similar information.

Don’t restrict competition by including bias that favours a particular supplier. Avoid referring to brands, trademarks or any specific processes that are particular to suppliers in the marketplace. 

Break down your objectives and then organise your specification into component parts with a clear and logical flow. Include an introduction, then background, scope of services and detailed requirements. Make sure you incorporate information on your brand values so that suppliers can consider and adopt these. Think about what your requirements are – separating into ‘must haves’ and ‘nice to haves’ – and write in terms of outputs. For example, as part of a contract to renovate a hospital car park you might want the contractor to install signage for users. 

Your specification could specify precise features and dimensions: where the signs should be placed, dimensions, types of paint, background colour, font type, materials to be used etc.

Alternatively, your requirement could be less detail-focused, requiring that signs are prominently placed, provide simple clear information, are readable from a reasonable distance and made from durable materials. In other words, the contractor worries about the detail, you focus on what you want the signage to do.

In practice, your specification might include a bit of both. The point is to think about how the specification you need to write will match the outcome you’re looking for. Don’t assume a supplier can read your mind.

Make your specification as enforceable and measurable as possible. Be clear what success and failure looks like. If you want to specify for something using exact numbers (for example, time limits, productivity rates etc) be sure that what you are asking for makes sense, is realistic, attainable and can be verified. Use positive and directive language such as ‘the supplier shall ensure that the project delivers x, y and z.’ 

Always write in plain English and avoid technical jargon unless you’re sure a person reading it will understand what you’re asking for. Avoid empty filler terms such as ‘leverage’, ‘world class’, ‘synergise’ and ‘game changer.’

There are many laws governing the procurement of supplies, services and works for the public sector. At the very least you should be aware of the basic fairness principles that apply to public procurement policy. 

You may also need to consider the impacts of policy and legal issues relating to cyber security,  GDPR, carbon net zero, prompt payment of suppliers and social value. They probably won’t all apply in every procurement but it’s important to check.

Finally, review, review, and then review again. Do several sense checks before you send out.

Remember, get it wrong and you won’t get what you want.

Find out more

More information and guidance for public and third sector buyers, as well as full details of all of our commercial agreements, can be found in the latest CCS digital brochure.

5 steps to help you on your carbon net zero journey

Perhaps the most ambitious target set by this Government is to reduce carbon consumption to net zero by 2050. It’s barely comprehensible that, a generation from now, the public sector could be entirely carbon neutral. 

The carbon net zero target requires a total decarbonisation of electricity, transport, buildings, industry, and the public sector, with interim targets and legislation to help us get there. A key milestone target – to achieve a 78% reduction by 2035 – was announced just this April.

Harnessing the power of UK businesses, boosting innovation, and capitalising on the economic growth potential provided by new green technology will all have a role to play in helping us to meet our target.

The public sector has to grasp the opportunity to lead by example and influence the behaviours of the citizens we serve across the UK to encourage this innovation and deliver real change as we build back greener.

Building your carbon net zero strategy – where to begin?

Designing a carbon net zero strategy from scratch is daunting. Wherever you’re up to on your journey, think about how you might tackle each of these 5 steps.

Step 1: Understand your footprint

First and foremost, you need to understand what your current carbon footprint is, based on the data already available. This will allow you to benchmark and measure success.

Consider this in three elements: ‘scope 1’ emissions come from sources your organisation owns, ‘scope 2’ emissions from your energy usage, and ‘scope 3’ emissions from sources you don’t own or control, which are produced as a consequence of your organisation’s actions. An example of this could be staff behaviour – how they commute, travel for business, or use energy when working remotely.

Use your existing data systems or any platforms that have been put in place by your providers to help you understand your carbon footprint. You can also go directly to your providers: for example, suppliers of energy, travel management, and outsourced fleet managers. They will usually be happy to help.

Step 2: Create your plan

Once you have your data, it will be easier to identify where you can have the biggest impact. There will be some stand out areas where you can make a change more easily and quickly; changing your energy tariff, switching to LED lighting, or moving your data to the cloud.

When developing your plan, ensure you have engaged all impacted stakeholders, whether they be internal sustainability, estates, planning and operational teams, or your service partners and other independent organisations such as Energy Savings Trust. Most important of all, make sure you consider the impact on your customers or service users.

At the start, it may feel overwhelming. Take one step at a time, and use the expertise available to help you. Your plan can be split into discrete phases of adoption, leaving room for you to learn and adapt over time. 

Future proof as much as possible: consider if your vehicle charging infrastructure is likely to be able to meet future demands. Look at the sustainability of your building materials, and how your technology will age. 

Allow time and space to understand the options available, and don’t be scared to try something new.

Step 3: Implement the changes

The key with this step is you don’t need to do everything on day one.

This is a tortoise and the hare scenario: slowly planning and implementing your changes will achieve better long term results. Rushing could cause other issues. It could cause people around you to resent the changes being made, or for key areas to be missed. 

Slow and incremental changes can be more cost effective in the long term. That’s why setting out your plan and engaging with key stakeholders will give you a strong platform to start with.   

Step 4: Review your impact

Have you achieved the benefits in carbon reduction you hoped for? Have you created problems elsewhere? As you deliver your plan, you may identify more areas for incremental change. 

Take time to understand the impact your changes have had on your carbon footprint. Carbon net zero is a long journey, so make sure you acknowledge the progress you have made along the way and celebrate successes. Every positive change you make is helping to fight climate change. Where possible, share any lessons learned or best practice externally, to inform others’ activities. 

Step 5: Look to the future

Like all good process improvements, your carbon net zero campaign should be a cycle of continuous improvement. 

Go back and revisit your data, your goals and the art of the possible to ensure you are doing everything to help you achieve carbon neutrality.

All the changes you have made to this point can be revisited and reviewed to check there have been no additional advancements to allow you to improve further. Look at provisions for innovation in your contracts that can support upgrades and enhancements.

It is also time to engage with your organisation’s key stakeholders to see if you have created an opportunity to update your business operations to further support your carbon net zero goals. 

Find out more

To learn more, visit our Carbon Net Zero web page. If you have any questions, we are here to help – contact the team.

This article was originally published by Public Sector Executive.

Procurement and the pandemic: how CCS rose to the challenge of Covid-19

Procurement and the Pandemic: CEO Simon Tse shares the lessons from the past year

Back in July 2020, a few months into the pandemic, Crown Commercial Service published our accounts for 2019/20.

Looking back on what had been a successful year from that vantage point was a surreal experience. The UK had gone into lockdown around the end of the financial year, and by July 2020 the government was considering how we might begin to unlock parts of the economy to return some kind of normality.

Another 12 months on, and we’re having a familiar conversation, as CCS has played a key role in responding to the ongoing requirements around the pandemic.

Overall, the organisation continues to record strong spend growth, allowing us to help even more customers across the public sector and deliver over £2 billion in commercial benefits. £22.7 billion was channelled through CCS commercial agreements in 2020/21, an increase of £4.6 billion from the year before.

Procurement and the Pandemic

The sheer scale of activities that we have been involved in has been exceptional. Early in the year, our focus was on supporting the initial crisis response across central government and with our customers in the wider public sector. 

We helped to repatriate British nationals on flight charters from more than 50 countries. Millions of meals were delivered to schoolchildren through our free school meals voucher scheme, and more than a million disadvantaged children received devices to assist with their home schooling.

At a crucial moment in the UK’s response, 14,000 staff were deployed to the vaccination programme, and 1,000 to laboratories – thanks to CCS agreements. And 500 mobile testing units have been designed and delivered to provide Covid-19 symptomatic tests estimated to have saved 6,000 lives. 

We have played a major role supporting NHS Test and Trace to buy what it needed – working across all our teams and categories, from logistics and vehicles, to contact centres and contingent labour, as well as providing project management office support and other resources. 

All this has been done amid the disruption to all of our lives caused by remote working, home schooling and living day-to-day through a pandemic, and I couldn’t be more proud of how our colleagues have responded. Probably the most satisfying achievement for me in the last year is that nine out of ten of our staff have told us they feel positively about how the organisation has responded to their wellbeing needs, during a time when many have had worked long hours and on difficult projects to support the public sector response. 

Lessons from the past year

While the recovery continues it’s very likely that a significant amount of our work this year will be impacted by the fallout from the pandemic. 

We must look to grasp the opportunities of the Covid-19 recovery and do even more to support our customers across the public sector to build back better, greener and fairer.

One example of this is the work we are doing with customers right now to understand their biggest carbon net zero challenges and to help them on their decarbonisation journey. We are uniquely placed to use our commercial expertise to help our customers across a wide range of commercial areas, from fleet to energy, technology and construction, ensuring that they are able to build back greener.

We’re also hearing time and again that social value is a priority, and with 18,000 customers across the UK, the opportunity to generate social value through public procurement is clear.

Our offer has to be tailored to customers’ needs across dozens of goods and services. For instance, we can ask suppliers bidding to join our agreements to demonstrate how they work to ensure fair, inclusive and ethical employment practices. Suppliers on our furniture agreement are asked to support the Greening Government Commitment to ensure that all packaging of products is reusable or readily recyclable.

And our fleet category are backing Highways England’s Driving for Better Business campaign to boost driver safety standards for public sector suppliers, requiring suppliers on our agreements to sign up to the scheme

As I reflect on the last 12 months and look forward to the year ahead, the common theme for me is agility. 

The pressure exerted on the public sector as a whole has enabled us to demonstrate to our customers, and also to ourselves, how we can be agile – adapting, innovating and responding to uncertainty. I am committed to ensuring that we retain the best of this agility to respond to the next set of challenges and truly support our public sector to build back better.

Simon Tse, CEO of Crown Commercial Service

This article was first published in Civil Service World

Find out more

You can find a full list of Crown Commercial Service commercial agreements and details of how to build policy considerations into your procurement in our interactive digital brochure.

NHS trusts save £240,000 on mobile voice and data services

The requirement

Many organisations routinely purchase mobile voice and data services which can often result in varied contract end dates from having to acquire individual mobile phones at different times. This can also create a barrier to switching suppliers to gain better value, as potential savings may be reduced or lost due to early termination charges. To help combat this problem, we wanted to help customers find a way to aggregate their mobile requirements with other customers, which would ultimately help achieve savings.

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust had a combined requirement for 1,159 connections. They all took part in our free aggregation service along with 9 other public sector bodies, in an effort to aggregate demand and achieve greater savings.

The solution

We ran a competitive tender using lot 6 of the Network Services framework agreement, the best value offer in the market was obtained by taking into consideration both price and quality factors and the further competition was concluded with sealed bids. The competition, which took place between April and May 2019, brought together common mobile voice and data services of 12 customers, amounting to over 13,203 connections.

The 3 NHS foundation trusts along with the other participants taking part in the aggregation made use of our indicative savings analysis which we carried out pre-procurement. This reassured all parties that the time and effort put in would be well rewarded and that any risk of change that was identified was mitigated by the wrap-around migration service that would be provided by the successful bidder. The NHS trusts found that they faced obstacles when trying to obtain buy-in from key stakeholders in the group and convince decision-makers that this was the most effective route to market. Fortunately, the indicative savings analysis helped them to tackle these obstacles as they could prove that the aggregation process would be worthwhile.

The results

The NHS foundation trusts achieved average savings of 75% across the 3 hospital groups, with identified savings of £240,000. The total savings achieved for all 12 customers was £1.5miollion, an average of 73% across participating customers.

A representative from the NHS foundation trusts said:

“We found CCS to be very helpful in leading our group of hospitals through the procurement process. They explained the steps clearly and assisted with the data gathering and analysis which can be difficult for those not used to dealing with this particular commodity. In terms of the actual procurement process, this went smoothly and the result was even better than expected with average savings of 75% across our group of Hospitals.

CCS were responsive to queries around all aspects of the process and always willing to help. They were easy to contact and happy to discuss any issues or queries raised and these were always resolved quickly.

We have identified savings of £240,000 across the 3 hospitals that joined the procurement and this money can now be channelled back into those organisations to ultimately help deliver better patient care services.”

If you would like to take part in a mobile voice and data aggregation, please complete our online form quoting ‘Mobile voice and data aggregation’ and a member of our team will be in touch.

6 customers save £300,000 on IT hardware

The requirement

Many organisations routinely purchase the same commodity goods such as laptops, desktops, tablets and peripherals, as and when they need them. Some customers experience issues with compiling their specifications to ensure their technical requirements are fully met.

We wanted to help customers to achieve savings and also provide the ability to purchase agnostically – providing the best value for money while meeting the customers’ needs.

The solution

One of our national further competitions, which are based on a standardised specification, was planned as the aggregated volume was expected to attract more interest from suppliers.

Using the Crown Commercial Service Technology Products 2 agreement (lot 1), a further competition was run and the most economically advantageous offer in the market was found by taking into consideration both price and non-price factors such as quality, technical specifications, compatibility with other hardware and warranty length. The further competition was concluded with an eAuction to maximise supplier competition.

The results

The competition, which happened in May 2019, brought together the common IT hardware needs of 6 customers, amounting to £1.9 million.

It achieved on average a 16.75% saving compared to market value. This is the equivalent of a saving of £300,000 for the customers who took part.

These results clearly demonstrate that with aggregated volumes and the adoption of a standard specification for a commodity product, significant cost savings can quickly be realised.

For further information

National aggregated further competitions are a tried and tested approach which has delivered significant savings to the public sector.

This is a fully managed service provided and funded by us. We will draft all documents, build the specification and run the procurement.

Customers just need to complete a form to express their interest, provide the final volume of services required before going to market and signing a contract with the successful supplier.

We would like to hear from customers who are interested in securing savings by aggregating their needs with other customers for commodity goods and services.

You have until September 2019 to take part in our latest IT Hardware aggregation. To express an interest or speak to a member of our team, please complete our online form quoting ‘NFC114 IT hardware aggregation’ in the comments box.

12 customers save £1.55 million on mobile voice and data services

The requirement

Purchasing mobile voice and data services is often a routine purchase for many organisations, regularly resulting in varied contract end dates from having to acquire individual mobile phones at different times. This can create a barrier to switching suppliers to gain a better value and quality service for customers.

The aggregation team works to create opportunities for standardisation to achieve greater leverage and further savings for customers. Through the interpretation of customer data and requirements, we develop aggregated competitions that meet customer requirements.

The solution

One of our national further competitions (which are based on a standardised specification), was planned as the aggregated value/volume was expected to attract more interest from suppliers.

Using the Crown Commercial Service Network Services framework agreement (lot 6), a further competition was run and the most economically advantageous offer in the market was obtained by taking into consideration both price and quality factors. The further competition was concluded with sealed bids.

Innovative contract terms were introduced allowing customers to migrate connections as and when existing contracts expire throughout the first year of the contract.

The results

The competition, which took place April to May 2019, brought together common mobile voice and data services of 12 customers, amounting to 13,203 connections.

It achieved an average savings of 73% compared to current customer spend, which is the equivalent saving of £1.55 million for those customers who took part.

These results clearly demonstrate that with aggregated volumes and the adoption of a standard specification for commodity goods or services, significant cost savings can quickly be realised.

Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:

We achieved excellent savings well above what we had expected, showing the significance of aggregated volumes. CCS also conducted the procurement for us, so the project didn’t take up lots of  time which could be spent elsewhere. We were kept up to date with relevant information at all times and we had total confidence in the process. The procurement has also given us the opportunity to review our mobile phone and data usage.

Paradigm Housing Limited:

Having taken part in a previous aggregation with CCS, we were keen to work with them again on our mobile voice and data contract renewal. CCS managed the process from start to finish, keeping us informed throughout and making the whole experience painless. We have achieved a 75% reduction in our mobile phone bill while improving the service we receive from the supplier through the adoption of the standard specification for services.

How can you get involved?

National aggregated further competitions are a tried and tested approach which has delivered significant savings to the public sector.

This is a fully managed service provided and funded by us. We will draft all documents, build the specification and run the procurement.

We are in the process of preparing for our next Mobile Voice and Data Services aggregation (NFC119) which will launch formally for expression of interest in October 2019. If you would like to take part, please complete our online form quoting ‘NFC119’ and a member of our team will be in touch.

Alternatively, you can call our dedicated customer team on: 0345 410 2222

NHS saves an average of 74% using new health network

The requirement

The NHS, along with other health and social care organisations, needs to access and share information reliably, flexibly and efficiently in order to carry out frontline services effectively. Previously, the ability to do this was delivered through N3, a long standing single-supplier national broadband network which was expiring and no longer fit for purpose due to the increased demand on the network. The solution identified to meet the new requirement was the creation of the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN). NHS Digital’s objectives were to:

  • create a competitive multi-vendor marketplace
  • transform to a state delivering 35% cost reductions
  • move from centralised funding to a devolved funding model

NHS Digital was tasked with helping to migrate 14,000 network connections – the largest ever network migration in Europe – from N3 to a new competitive multi-vendor marketplace capable of delivering improved bandwidth with improved interoperability. This included remote consultations between hospitals via video conferencing, and simpler access to cloud-based services supporting key initiatives like ‘The NHS Long Term Plan’.

The solution

The Network Services team at Crown Commercial Service collaborated with NHS Digital to create a new commercial agreement – the Health and Social Care Network Dynamic Purchasing System (HSCN DPS) – to enable health and social care organisations to procure HSCN connectivity and services.

Working closely with NHS Digital, industry bodies, and stakeholders, CCS delivered the HSCN DPS, a compliant, quick, and easy route to market for health and social care organisations delivered within the agreed programme timescales. Access to support from procurement experts with contractual terms and key performance indicators that meet NHS requirements was also provided.

The migration timescales required NHS organisations to take action quickly. NHS Digital and CCS worked closely with NHS organisations across the country to assess their needs, understand their contractual landscape and aggregate the demand into regional groups. The required volumes generated by combining the needs of multiple trusts provided suppliers with larger opportunities to bid for, making these more attractive to the market and helping to drive prices down.

CCS’s aggregation team ran 8 regional competitions for a total of 204 health and care providers, representing approximately 3,549 services, which reduced the cost and effort of procurement for the NHS customers.

The results

Patrick Clark, NHS Digital’s HSCN Programme Director, said:

‘Creating a competitive market for network services in health and social care and driving both product innovation and value for money has been an ambition of the HSCN programme since the outset. Establishing the HSCN dynamic purchasing system in partnership with Crown Commercial Service has played a significant part of realising this ambition. The DPS has promoted the formation of a thriving market for HSCN services and provides health and social care organisations with an easy to use, low risk way of procuring excellent value, compliant services.’

The HSCN DPS successfully delivered a competitive multi-vendor marketplace – with over 30% of these suppliers being small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The aggregated competitions awarded between June and November 2018 delivered an average saving of 74% when compared to the current price paid.

This is the equivalent of an aggregated saving of £59.3m for the customers who took part in the programme. Due to the competitiveness of the HSCN offerings, some customers chose to upgrade their service rather than replace like-for-like, which, while not saving money, enabled greater clinical benefits.

The CCS and NHS Digital HSCN collaboration was awarded the Innovation Award at the Yorkshire and Humber Skills Development Commercial Awards 2019, and was shortlisted as a finalist in the Public Procurement category for the CIPS Supply Management Awards 2019.

The delivery of the HSCN DPS and associated regional aggregated procurements are critical elements in the delivery of the Health and Social Care Network and support the ongoing migration away from the N3 network.

For further information

The HSCN dynamic purchasing system (DPS) (RM3825) is the primary route to market for HSCN services. This agreement has been specifically designed for procurement of HSCN services and so its scope and the associated terms and conditions are aligned to HSCN connectivity services. 

For requirements which include business applications and overlay services in addition to HSCN, CCS’s Network Services 2 (RM3808) framework can also be used.

To learn how the HSCN DPS could help support your initiative, you can visit the agreement web page or get in touch.

Health and education customers achieve average savings of 72% on mobile voice and data services

The requirement

Purchasing mobile voice and data services is often a routine purchase for many organisations, regularly resulting in varied contract end dates. This can create a barrier to switching suppliers to gain better value, as potential savings may be reduced or lost due to early termination charges. 

Through our regular bulk buying opportunities, our aggregation team help customers by combining their mobile voice and data requirements with other organisations, helping to achieve savings which would not be reduced by early termination of existing contracts. 

The solution

Using our Network Services 2 framework (lot 6), a national further competition was run (which was based on a standardised specification) and the best value offer in the market was obtained by taking into consideration both price and quality factors. The further competition was concluded with sealed bids.

Innovative contract terms were introduced allowing customers to migrate connections as and when existing contracts expire throughout the first year of the contract. 

The results 

The competition, which took place in February 2020, brought together common mobile voice and data services of 5 customers, amounting to over 9,800 connections. 

Participants included customers from  the health and education sectors.

The aggregation team achieved average savings of 72% compared to current customer spend, which is the equivalent saving of £1.1 million for those who took part. 

These results clearly demonstrate that with aggregated volumes and the adoption of a standard specification for commodity goods or services, significant cost savings can quickly be realised.  

Bangor University

Paul Wood from Bangor University, who took part in the  NFC119 competition for mobile telephony said:

“CCS made the process easy and our feedback on initial documents was taken onboard and revised (we wanted to ensure data overseas was covered including the post Brexit era). The contract was awarded to Telefonica – this was fortuitous  to us as they were the incumbent supplier. No SIM cards needed changing. We worked with Telefonica to allocate relevant package bolt ons. A few accounts were tested and the rest done without any need for end user intervention. Our costs have reduced by at least 60% compared to the previous contract. We would recommend the NFC process on this framework to interested parties.

How can you get involved?

National aggregated further competitions are a tried and tested approach which has delivered significant savings to 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. 

Our next Mobile Voice and Data Services aggregation (NFC127) is now live and customers have until 13 August 2020 to submit their requirements, with a formal contract award set to take place in October 2020. Visit our website to find out more and view our customer webinar, or If you would like to take part, please complete our online form quoting ‘NFC127 mobile voice and data aggregation’ in the comment box and a member of our team will be in touch.