The Softcat News Team
Marlow, 29 September 2020 – Softcat secures a place on the all-Wales ‘IT Products and Services (ii) procurement framework, which has an estimated value of £300 million. The Welsh National Procurement Service (NPS) runs the framework on behalf of the Welsh public sector.
The all-Wales procurement framework provides all Welsh public sector bodies, including its arms-length bodies, with streamlined access to IT software and hardware solutions. It includes a wide range of associated services and more suppliers that deliver services specifically for both smaller and corporate-sized public sector organisations. Softcat has won places on Lot 3 (Software), and Lot 5 (Solutions).
Lot 3: Software has an estimated value of £90 million. Softcat will supply a wide range of software and cloud-services products and deploy and manage software and cloud services for Welsh Public Sector organisations. Softcat is one of only five suppliers on this framework.
Lot 5: Solutions has an estimated value of £40 million. Softcat will provide an integrated IT hardware and software solutions service. This agreement allows Softcat to supply all of the customer’s IT requirements or combine several elements to form a single solution.
A standard framework agreement gives organisations access to a select group of approved suppliers. However, a government organisation would still need to conduct a mini competition between the approved suppliers before committing to purchase. Under the new framework, Lot 3 (software) allows for Direct Award, which simplifies and speeds up the procurement process. Direct Award enables an organisation to select a trusted supplier based on its own value for money assessment (which may be assessed by the supplier’s vendor accreditations) without the need for further competition.
Softcat’s Strategic Relationship Manager, Andy Bruen, commented, “Being reselected as a supplier on the NPS IT contract enables continuity of service to our much valued Welsh public sector customers. The direct award facility is a great addition for customers, because it gives them a faster and more cost-effective procurement process. It’s great for us, too, because our existing customers, who are happy with the service we’re delivering, are able to renew their contracts directly and efficiently with us.”
Softcat has a strong track record in supplying software and hardware solutions to the public sector. Andy Bruen notes, “Winning these two lots – especially the combined solutions – will enable us to deliver on all four of Softcat’s IT priorities: Hybrid Infrastructure, Digital Workspace, Cyber Security and IT Intelligence.”