Published date: 16 October 2017

Last edited date: 16 October 2017

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Closing: 22 August 2016

Contract summary

Industry

  • Accounting services - 79211000

  • Scanning and invoicing services - 79999000

Location of contract

Any region

Value of contract

£52,000,000

Procurement reference

RM3784

Published date

16 October 2017

Closing date

22 August 2016

Contract start date

7 November 2016

Contract end date

7 November 2018

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

Crown Commercial Service as the Authority has put in place a Pan Government Collaborative Framework Agreement for use by UK public sector bodies identified at VI.3 of the Contract Notice (and any future successors to these organisations), which include Central Government Departments and their Arm's Length Bodies and Agencies, Non Departmental Public Bodies, NHS bodies and Local Authorities.

The above mentioned public sector bodies have a need for PEPPOL Access Point Services for the electronic exchange of business documentation including invoices and purchase orders.

"PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online)" was initiated in 2008 with the aim of simplifying electronic procurement across borders by developing technology standards that could be implemented across all governments within Europe. The overall objective was to enable businesses to communicate electronically with any government institution in the procurement process, increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.
This procurement will give access to PEPPOL Standards-based IT Transport Infrastructure through Access Points, and the services provided for eProcurement with standardised electronic document formats.
Department of Health has publicly committed to the adoption of PEPPOL across all NHS Trusts. The implementation of PEPPOL is intended to remove unnecessary process inefficiencies which arise during the transfer of business documents. It is estimated that the current process requires significant manual intervention. It is also means that a single supplier wishing to trade with the NHS may have to accept 150 different formats of purchase orders.
The adoption of a single standard allows customers to exchange these business documents through a single 'Access Point'. The process reduces complexity and costs for the Contracting Body and for the Provider using what is commonly known as a 4 corner model. This allows the Contracting Body and the Provider to select their own Access Point Provide with PEPPOL mandating that information passes between the two.

A key feature of the PEPPOL network is the freedom for suppliers to engage with an Access Point provider of their choice, to send and receive electronic documents with any organisation in the PEPPOL network through one single source, eliminating complex relationships with buyers, their service providers and related obligations.
The network is governed by the PEPPOL Transport Infrastructure Agreements, establishing a many-to-many legal framework instead of the traditional bilateral agreements entered into between service providers.

The documents are routed through Access Points and the receiver's capabilities can be discovered by using the PEPPOL Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) services. The content and validation rules ensure consistency for all parties.

A detailed description of the Services is set out in Schedule 2 within the Redacted Framework Agreemen

More information

Attachments

Additional text

This procurement was managed electronically via the Agent's e-Sourcing Suite. Participants in the procurement had to register first on the e-Sourcing Suite.

All values are estimates only as successful suppliers are not guaranteed a specific level of business.

While the contract is due to expire 7 November 2018, Crown Commercial Service has the option to extend the duration of the Framework Agreement beyond this date. The extension periods are for a maximum of 2 years. Each extension period to be 12 consecutive months.

About the buyer

Address

Rosebery Court
St Andrews Business Park
Norwich
NR7 0HS
England

Telephone

0345 010 3503

Email

supplier@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Website

www.gov.uk/ccs