24 July 2014

Important news for members who are supplying to the public sector

The newly formed Crown Commercial Service has brought together government's central commercial capability into a single organisation, amalgamating government Procurement Service with other commercial teams from the Cabinet Office and central government departments. It follows on from the centralisation of common goods and services outlined in the Philip Green Review 2010 and the CCS are ultimately responsible to Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office. In 2013/4 they managed £13 billion of public sector spend. More than 50% of 2,600 suppliers on their agreements are SMEs. Potentially there are over 14,500 customers across 1,400 organisations in central government, health, local government, devolved administrations, education and the not for profit sector.

The Crown Commercial Service has developed a strategy to service the whole of the UK Public Sector office supplies requirements, regardless of organisational size, spend or buying profile.

In order to manage this effectively they intend to undertake a phased procurement programme.

Phase 1: Procurement for Wider Public Sector (WPS) Office Supplies
OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) date planned August 2014 with Award and go live January 2015

• Single lot 'one stop shop' awarded to multiple suppliers who demonstrate the capability to service WPS requirements on a national basis

• Customers are able to direct award to a single supplier based on a value for money assessment or run a further competition from all framework suppliers

*This will be supplemented with the launch of a Crown Commercial Service Dynamic Marketplace solution for non contractual ad hoc WPS spend, open to suppliers to register by region and aimed at smaller SMEs or independent resellers currently servicing regional/ad hoc/non contractual WPS spend.

Phase 2: Procurement for Central Government (CG) and open to WPS to access
OJEU date tbc - indicative timescale OJEC (Official Journal of the European Community)November 2014 with Award April 2015 and go live July 2015

• Strategic partnering supply arrangements
• Mandated for CG customers
• Open to WPS customers with a similar organisational profile or buying profile

For further information on becoming a supplier to the Crown Commercial Service click here or visit www.ccs.cabinetoffice.gov.uk.