In February, Crown Commercial Service launched the latest iteration of the agreement for procuring back office software solutions. The Back Office Software 2 agreement includes a new lot to encourage innovation from SMEs
Back Office Software 2 [RM6285] replaces Back Office Software [RM6194] and will provide a route to market for any UK public sector organisation wishing to purchase Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for back office applications, either in the cloud, on-premise or hybrid.
Through the framework, as well as gaining access to a large range of SMEs, customers are able to work directly with large software vendors such as Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, and IBM, enabling competition between them as well, ensuring maximum value for money.
Benefits
Back office software systems provide many benefits, for example, by improving productivity by streamlining administrative tasks, automating repetitive processes, centralising data access, and enabling better decision-making through real-time insights.
It is hoped that through providing a wide range of flexible and innovative software solutions, the new agreement will help to enable civil servants and public sector workers to focus on more strategic work, reducing overall operational inefficiencies across departments.
The agreement will support back office functions including enterprise resource planning (ERP); human capital management (HCM), also known as people resource management; and customer relationship management (CRM).
It will also support finance systems, procurement and sourcing portals; workflow technologies; and content management.
Customers can also buy associated services at the same time as software, including installation, implementation and configuration of software; consultancy for a range of services including application design, systems architecture and data migration; service desk; cloud, on-premise or hybrid solutions; data handling and validation; and integration.
Lots and suppliers
The framework lists 97 suppliers, 53 per cent of which are SMEs.
The new framework is similar to the previous iteration, but differs by featuring two new distinct lots. The scope of the framework was determined through a series of market engagement sessions.
Lot 1 Enterprise Software will cover the provision of software tools including accounting software, payroll systems, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.
Meanwhile Lot 2 Software specialised solutions will cover the same range of products, while being designed with a provision of software tools including accounting software, payroll systems, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.
Both lots allow the option of procuring through directly awarded contracts or further competition.
The agreement will initially run for a term of 30 months, with the option for extensions up to a further 18 months. A key change compared to the previous iteration is the removal of Call-Off contract length limits to improve flexibility for customers.
The framework offers several benefits. The simple two-lot structure offers a wide range of back-office software capabilities within a single, consolidated framework. It includes fully supported solutions for cloud, on-premise, or hybrid systems, and allows for the purchase of licences along with associated services. The framework features an evaluated pool of key suppliers, enabling customers to benefit from healthy competition, reduce costs, and increase value for money. Lot 2 now has a reduced financial threshold of under £5 million, making it more accessible for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the tender documents have been redesigned to be SME-friendly. Customer protection has also been strengthened, core terms now take precedence over supplier terms in the event of a dispute. Additionally, the use of public sector contracting terms and conditions provides a more flexible, customisable route to market, with no maximum call-off length.
Carbon reduction
All suppliers for this agreement have committed to comply with the Procurement Policy Note 06/21: ‘Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts’ as required. If a supplier is required to publish a carbon reduction plan, this can be on their individual supplier details page.
Philip Orumwense, commercial director and chief technology procurement officer, Crown Commercial Service said: “This new framework provides better value for the nation through the use of cost effective and more efficient back office software solutions, freeing up civil service time to focus on providing services for citizens.
“It is yet another example of how CCS is helping to improve interoperability throughout the public sector by making it easier for organisations to link different back-office computer systems and make better use of real time data whilst enabling the acceleration of modern digital government.”
