News story: Public bodies band together on new mobile voice and data procurement

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is harnessing the buying power of the public sector to reduce the cost to the public purse of purchasing mobile voice and data services.

Expressions of interest are now being taken from public sector organisations who want to take part in this latest bulk buying project.

The competition will be awarded in March 2018, with customer requirements being gathered between now and December.

The winning supplier will provide mobile voice and data services to the public sector at the most competitive price available – supporting the provision of efficient, effective public services that meet the needs of citizens.

The most recent exercises of its kind organised by CCS have saved customers, including local authorities and NHS trusts, on average 60% compared to their previous bills. The more organisations that take part, the greater the benefits will be.

Niall Quinn, Director of Technology Strategic Category said:

I’d encourage all public sector organisations who are looking to purchase mobile voice and data services to consider joining this aggregation. These projects have a great track record of utilising the buying power of the public sector to leverage the best deals from suppliers, ensuring that public bodies can deliver efficient public services.

Each participating customer will sign their own individual contract with the winning supplier.

How it works

The project is a National Further Competition completed under Lot 6 of CCS’s Network Services framework. The chosen supplier will be one of those currently appointed to this Lot.

It will put in place a mobile voice and data services contract offering a high level of flexibility by:

• Establishing a zero line rental model for basic connections, avoiding customers incurring costs from unused lines
• Structuring services as ‘bolt-ons’ which can be added to the basic connection, enabling packages to built to customer specifications
• 30-day terms for ‘bolt-ons’ to enable customers to change their mix of services during the contract term

Find out more

If you are interested in getting involved please get in touch – simply tick the aggregation box and quote NFC81.

CCS’s last competition saved 17 customers over £2.7 million.