Move marks latest step in programme to develop shorter and easy-to-understand public sector contracts
The Government Digital Service (GDS) and Crown Commercial Service (CCS) are preparing an early implementation of the new simplified contract for government procurement.
It marks a step in the effort to provide contracts that are shorter and easier to understand while offering the same commercial and legal protection.
A GDS blogpost says the two organisations, along with law firm DLA Piper, are currently looking at the renewal of the Facilities Management Service framework, which is due to open for supplier applications next month.
It indicates that the project is still in its alpha stage, and that they are planning to engage early with suppliers to understand how they will use the new contracts.
It adds: “Right now, our focus for research and testing is the people within CCS who create and look after contracts. Later in our alpha, we’ll be returning to the growing community of ‘good contract champions’ as we prototype and test different approaches to meeting contract users’ needs.”
The news comes more than a year after GDS reported on a plan to develop a template for contracts written in simple language that would be easily accessible online, and two years after it and CCS began to work on simplified contracts specifically for digital services.
Image by Gunnar Wrobel, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
