Contents:

New Frameworks

1. Logistics and Courier Services framework agreements
2. Recruitment Services framework agreement
3. Software for Educational Institutions framework agreement
4. Furniture framework agreement
5. Estates Services framework agreement
6. The Learning & Development and eLearning Solutions framework agreement

Procurement News

1. Buying Solutions and HP agree ground-breaking deal
2. eAuction sees savings of around 50% on laptops and around 20% on desktops
3. Fuel card negotiations
4. Nominations invited for LGC and HSJ awards
5. Procurements in the Pipeline

Procurements in the Pipeline

Logistics and Courier Services framework agreements

A new set of courier services has been launched this month which will provide buyers across the public sector with swift and easy access to an extensive range of collection, delivery and logistics solutions.

The package includes ad hoc and scheduled collections and deliveries locally and nationally, both same day and next day, together with international services too. A range of logistical and bespoke services are also available providing a tailored, managed service dealing with additional requirements such as secure transit, storage and destruction of items.

The Logistics and Courier Services framework agreements were developed following a detailed collaborative exercise involving government departments and agencies to ensure that a wide cross section of public sector requirements and circumstances were considered.

Among the suppliers are organisations expert in the secure movement of cash and other valuable items, together with potentially hazardous goods such as medical or veterinary material.

The six suppliers appointed to the framework agreements are:

• City Sprint
• DX Group
• Government Car and Despatch Agency
• Royal Mail Group
• TNT UK, and
• eCourier.co.uk

Recruitment Services framework agreement

The Recruitment Services framework agreement provides access to the full range of recruitment services including Attraction, Response, Assessment and Campaign Delivery.

The framework was launched following collaboration with key stakeholders from the DWP, Home Office, HMRC, HMPS and PASA.

There are two Lots in this framework agreement providing Specialist Category recruitment and also Large Volume recruitment.

Specialist Category Lot 1

Whilst many organisations can rightfully say they can deliver any kind of recruitment campaign, experience has shown that the market has diversified. In order to deliver to very specific requirements certain niche category suppliers have emerged, where quality not quantity prevails. These suppliers have gained significant knowledge of their specialist sector(s) in order that they are able to advise customers as to the most cost efficient and effective recruitment activity. They would be regarded amongst their peers as "best in class" and have a significant track record in successfully delivering niche area job roles to a range of relevant customers in diverse geographic locations.

Large Volume Category Lot 2

In this Lot we have suppliers that have shown how to attract and manage the delivery of large scale recruitment campaigns on behalf of customers that may include diverse job roles from junior to senior levels. The suppliers have the versatility to adapt to changing needs, can deliver from multi sites as required, and can show they lead the market in this arena.

HR Recruitment Supplier Matrix

SME	Supplier	Lot 1 Specialist Recruitment	Lot 2 Volume Recruitment
	Ashbourne Assessment Systems Ltd
	Badenoch & Clark
	Barkers Group Limited
	Capita Resourcing Ltd
	Elan Limited
	GW Professional UK Limited (FSS, Strategi, Crone Corkill and Advantage)
	Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited
	Hudson Global Resources Limited
	Mendas Limited
	Michael Page International
	NorthgateArinso (NgA)
	Reed Managed Services PLC

Software for Educational Institutions framework agreement

Buying Solutions has collaborated with Becta, the Government's lead agency for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in education, to establish a new framework agreement for software for educational institutions.

The new framework agreement will give educational establishments an attractive route to obtain software licences through simple, cost-effective arrangements. It will offer a broad range of commercial, off-the-shelf software and licences, together with a range of value-adding support services, for example, sourcing, installation technical support and licence management.

The new framework will cover the supply of software for specific activities such as word processing and image handling. It will not cover software that has been created to deliver the national curriculum, learning environments or Management Information Systems.

These new arrangements will replace the current managed framework by Becta which expires in October 2008. More than £46 million has been spent through this framework since it was set up in 2005, delivering £22 million of savings.

The new agreement will be let for four years and is expected to attract spend of approximately £80 million. The competition is being run by Buying Solutions on Becta's behalf.

The new framework agreement will go live in October.

Furniture framework agreement

An innovative package of furniture services has been launched covering office, courtroom/bespoke and residential furniture along with mobile steel storage.

This was developed as part of a collaborative effort with a considerable level of input from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) who provided documentation and allocated key personnel to assist with the evaluation of PQQ and ITT responses.

The new framework agreement is split into six lots; there are three suppliers in each lot with the exception of Lot 1 which has six. The MoD-specific lots are also available to other public sector users and although available through the same framework agreement, there are two different product listings available to MoD and non-MoD-specific users.

• Lot 1 - Office Furniture
• Lot 2 - Courtroom/Bespoke Furniture
• Lot 3 - Residential Furniture
• Lot 4 - MoD specific (Services family)
• Lot 5 - MoD specific (Single living)
• Lot 6 - Mobile Steel Storage

Furniture framework agreements

Supplier	Lot 1	Lot 2	Lot 3	Lot 4	Lot 5	Lot 6
Eurotek Office Furniture Limited
Flexiform Business Furniture Limited
Herman Miller
Kinnarps (UK) Ltd.
Senator International Limited
TBS (South Wales) Ltd.
Fray Design Ltd.
Gresham Office Furniture Limited
Godfrey Syrett Limited
H. Morris and Company Limited
Oep Furniture Group Plc
MRX Engineering Support Services Limited TA Metalrax
Rackline
Rotadex Systems Ltd.

Thank you to the following for their input into this new framework agreement:

• Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
• Environment Agency
• HM Revenue & Customs
• Department for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
• Department for Transport (DFT)
• Home Office
• Lancashire County Council
• Scottish Government
• Highways Agency

Estates Services framework agreement

The Estates Services framework agreement has been launched to assist with requirements ranging from a full appraisal of an organisation's business needs and existing holdings in an estate strategy, through to individual rent reviews or disposals. The services available on this framework agreement include professional advice, guidance, negotiation and assistance on property and estates issues.

The full list of services available on the Estates Services framework agreement includes, but is not limited to:

• Acquisition of freehold and leasehold property
• Disposal of freehold and leasehold property
• Rent reviews
• Lease breaks and lease expiries
• Lease renewals
• Dilapidations
• Landlord and Tenant issues including Landlord consents, service charges and claims
• Rating support services
• Strategic advice, including the preparation and development of an estate strategy
• Procurement strategy for property related issues
• Development consultancy and advice
• Valuations
• Planning
• Condition surveys
• Service assurance
• Compulsory purchase
• Daylighting / sunlighting / overshadowing and rights of light
• Other neighbourly matters
• General advice on estate and property management

The seven suppliers appointed to the framework agreement are:

• Atisreal
• Bruton Knowles
• Drivers Jonas
• GVA Grimley LLP
• King Sturge
• Knight Frank
• Lambert Smith Hampton

The Learning & Development and eLearning Solutions framework agreement

To be launched in November, the Learning & Development and eLearning Solutions framework agreement focuses on bespoke training courses that can be designed, developed and delivered.

Cross Government eLearning packages can be developed and shared, thus achieving value for money and the ability to share content. They will allow customers to address common skills gaps such as data security. Also contained within the framework agreement is the ability to allow suppliers, who offer eLearning solutions as a delivery method in other lots, to act as lead supplier on development to ensure the content is accurate.

The Learning & Development and eLearning Solutions framework agreement offers competitive supplier rates and discounts which will give significant savings. It consists of the following Lots:

• Skills for Life
• Communications and Marketing
• Customer Service
• Diversity & Equal Opportunities
• eLearning
• Finance
• Health & Welfare
• Human Resources
• Information and Records management
• Languages
• Legal
• Management and Leadership
• Organisational Development
• Policy Skills
• Procurement
• Programme and Project management
• Research & Development
• Security
• Social Awareness
• Specialist Services
• Vocational Training
• Working with Ministers

This framework agreement is expected to be let in at the end of November.

Buying Solutions and HP agree ground-breaking deal

Buying Solutions and HP join forces to offer up to 50% discount on selected print devices.

Each of the products meets the European Commission Energy Star requirements and those of the DEFRA 2008 Quick Wins mandatory specification.

This special offer will be available until the end of October 2008 and is expected to make significant cashable savings for the public purse. It is available exclusively through HP resellers on the Buying Solutions' IT Goods and Associated Services framework agreement, each of whom will be offering varying prices to stimulate competition.

The resellers are Centerprise International Ltd, Computacenter (UK) Ltd, DSGi Business, European Electronique, Fujitsu Services, Insight Direct (UK) Ltd, Misco, Probrand Ltd, Specialist Computer Centre (SCC) plc and XMA Limited.

You can find more details on the HP deal on our main site.

eAuction sees savings of around 50% on laptops and around 20% on desktops

Savings of around 50% on laptops and around 20% on desktops have been achieved through OGC and Buying Solutions' public sector eAuctions. Buy now whilst stocks last.

The winner of the eAuction was Insight, who will provide Lenovo laptops and desktops.

The products are available to all public sector bodies. There is no minimum order quantity so this promotion may be of particular appeal to smaller organisations that can not normally benefit from highly competitive prices achieved through aggregation.

You can also find more details on this eAuction on our main site.

Fuel card negotiations

Over the past few weeks Arval and BP have been in discussions regarding the continued acceptance of Arval fuel cards across the BP branded network.

The discussions, prompted and facilitated by Buying Solutions, have now concluded positively with an agreement which means that the All Star fuel card - which includes Monitorcard - will continue to be accepted at all BP sites.

In addition to this agreement, we are pleased to announce that BP will also continue to offer the BP Supercharge Card, which is accessible through the Buying Solutions framework agreement.

Nominations invited for LGC and HSJ awards

Once again, Buying Solutions will be sponsoring the Local Government Chronicle and Health Service Journal Sustainable Communities award for Procurement this year.

The Sustainable Communities Awards aim to celebrate and reward the critical role councils, primary care trusts and their local partners play in delivering genuinely sustainable communities.

This is the 4th year of these awards which have recognised and celebrated some excellent and innovative work across the country, where local partnerships are also striving to improve environmental, social and economic well-being. Local authorities alone spend over £40 billion per year on goods and services. This spending power and that of local partners, if properly harnessed, can be used to help create genuinely sustainable communities.

Public bodies can choose to procure from 'green' suppliers, which demonstrate that their goods or services are produced and provided in ways that do minimum harm to the environment. They can also choose suppliers that commit to using local goods, services or employment, which strengthen the local economy.

The closing date for entries is the 17 October 2008.

For more information and to submit an entry, visit the Local Government Chronicle and Health Sector Journal Sustainable Community awards website.

Procurements in the Pipeline

Below is a full list of new procurements showing their current stage in the process.

• PQQ - Prequalification Questionnaire
• ITT - Invitation to Tender

• ICT Consultancy - OJEU intended in early October 2008
• Ocean Framework Programme (pan public sector networks) - OJEU published
• Fuel Card (or equivalent solutions) - PQQ evaluation
• Government Procurement Card - PQQ evaluation
• Natural Gas and Associated Services - PQQ evaluation
• Mobile Solutions (refresh existing framework agreement) - PQQ evaluation
• Project Management and Full Design Team Services - PQQ evaluation
• Spend Data Analysis Service - ITT evaluation
• Travel Management Services - Preparation of ITT
• Decontamination Services - Competitive Dialogue stage
• Supply and Supply and Fit of Floor Coverings - Preparation of ITT