City of London authorities join forces over IT procurement contract

City of London boroughs have joined together to create a IT products and services framework worth up to £1.1 billion over the next four years. The City of Westminster (CoW) has teamed up with 32 authorities across the capital, including the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, to invite suppliers to bid for the framework agreements. Members at CoW stated that they are looking for "flexible" companies to take on the contract which see the provision of number IT services labelled under the headers of 'distributed computing', 'service desk' and 'data centre services' known as 'lots'. It is designed to improve the procurement jobs process that many of these councils have and also provide a significant incentive for suppliers to join up and tap into the hugely lucrative contract. CoW stated that while there was "no guarantee" that the selected supplier would receive orders from the authorities through the framework, IT providers could potentially claim up to £1.1 billion in futures and that the minimum combined annual value of the three lots amounted to £3.1 million. Officials explained that CoW is aiming to assign a separate supplier for each one of the lots but added that it could be the case that some companies are given two or even all three, depending on the situation at the time. The tender document read: "The aim is not only to provide outsourced technology but for the successful service provider to demonstrate that the underpinning technology ensures that the council and the other Participating Authorities receive: streamlined ICT services, improved process efficiency and cost-effectiveness, capacity for self-service where appropriate, improved efficient reporting, identified savings and of course quality of service." The government currently runs a system where suppliers from all over the country can apply for contracts to provide procurement for departments by simply registering online. Once a company secures provision, additional agreements can not be awarded in future months and years to come.