In a statement just before the beginning of the recess, Chloe Smith, parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, said that in future there will be far fewer large ICT frameworks. "Only those that explicitly deliver against key strategic needs, and are shaped to offer a reasonable chance of business for suppliers of all sizes, will be agreed," she said.
The new policy is enabled by the government operating as a single client, she said. "Framework agreements only work if they deliver what they set out to deliver and drive the greatest competition from a wider range of suppliers, including SMEs - that's why we're strengthening procurement by ensuring they align with what Government needs as well as working for suppliers."
Bill Crothers, chief procurement officer, said: "After looking at the current frameworks in use, we've decided to cease the Application Development, Delivery and Support Service (ADDSS) and Hosting Services procurements from today and Service Integration & Management Services (SIAM) will not be progressed through the framework route. Frameworks which are already operating effectively and delivering significant change such as the Public Services Network (PSN) and G-Cloud provide a model for success and will continue."
Analyst TechMarketView said that rationalisation made sense: "We had been concerned about the proliferation of framework agreements across government. It seemed strange, for example, for a hosting service framework to be procured when already there were numerous hosting companies listed on the Government Cloudstore (G-Cloud framework).
"Our fear was that government organisations would become increasingly confused about which procurement route to take. One of the key drivers behind this review has clearly been to make all frameworks open to SMEs as well as the larger players. Crothers has highlighted that the frameworks that have been cancelled didn't have enough SMEs involved and that they weren't seeing innovation coming from the suppliers that were bidding. This is clearly another kick in the teeth for the leading IT services suppliers who are being told that there is no place where SMEs shouldn't be playing; there is also the insinuation that the large players are failing to be innovative enough.
"The good news though, for all involved, is that frameworks will be designed such that if a supplier gains a place on a framework they are more likely to win work."
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Michael Cross
Quelle/Source: UKauthorITy, 24.12.2012
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