Tussell Market Monitor monthly update show department awarded the largest value contract, while top tenders are from NHS Shared Business Services and the Welsh Government
The Department for Work & Pensions’ (DWP) deal for a document and data management service was the largest public sector digital contract to be announced in January, according to new figures from Tussell Market Monitor.
Set up to deal with the department’s future needs to process up to 100,000 mail items per day, the contract went to Newcastle based Engie Services at a value of almost £43 million.
It marks a stage in achieving the department’s 2020 Vision and involves secure email opening document scanning and indexing, valuables handling and a multi-format inbound channel service.
Superfast broadband provision in North Yorkshire provided the basis for the second largest deal, with the county council for the region signing BT for the third phase of installing the infrastructure with a price tag of £30 million.
A handful of other deals were reported with values above £10 million: Bromford Housing Group signed up HCL Technologies as its enterprise solutions and transformation partner for £23 million; the Ministry of Defence signed up DXC Technology for its Air Platform Systems programme; and the Police Service of Northern Ireland has spent £11 million with a group of suppliers – unnamed for security reasons – for the replacement of its command control system.
NHS SBS leads tenders
In one of the quieter months for new tenders – the estimated total was less than half the previous month at £318 million for awards and £362 million for frameworks – the largest opening reflected a big step forward in the use of robotics technology. NHS Shared Business Services posted a £300 million framework for robotic surgery, consumables and related services; and acknowledged that ongoing developments in the technology mean that there could soon be new requirements.
The second largest tender was £200 million from the Welsh Government for phase two of its Next Generation Access Broadband Wales programme. It has said that currently about half of the premises in the country have access to superfast broadband, and it is now aiming to extend the coverage further.
Other tenders valued above £10 million are: a £30 million framework from Leeds City Council for ICT goods, supply, maintenance, disposal and services; the Scottish Government at £28 million for Purchase-to-Pay service support; Yorkshire and Humber Police Procurement with a framework for a vehicle data recorder system (£20 million); Greater Manchester Combined Authority for data centre virtualisation and a managed service (£17 million); Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council with the South Wales Trunk Road Agent electrical and technology maintenance contract (£15 million); and NSH Shared Business Service for the future networking requirements across Lancashire (£10 million).
Looking forward over the next six months, by far the largest contract is likely to be the new version of the G-Cloud framework, valued by the Crown Commercial Service at £600 million. Expiry date for the old version is 22 May.
Image (amended) from Nuclear Regulatory Commission, CC BY 2.0 through flickr
