1. News
Mini-competitions - start making savings today!
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The NPS is currently co-ordinating a number of collaborative mini-competition procurements on behalf of customer organisations in the Welsh public sector. These are designed to ease the burden of customers undertaking a full tender procedure, and to help drive improved savings rates.
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A number of customers have already taken advantage of this opportunity, and have
reported good savings so far.
Recent collaborative further competitions under the Managed Service for the Provision of Agency
Workers framework, had a combined contract value of almost £40m, and customers reported savings of
approximately 5% following the
NPS-led exercise.
Feedback from customers on collaborative mini-competitions under the
Tyres & Associated Services framework
has been very positive. NPS customers have reported savings of between 9% -
36% through direct award on this framework. Through collaborative
mini-competitions undertaken by NPS on behalf of customers, savings of between 10%
- 26% have been reported. Mini-competitions have helped NPS customers
achieve a further 2% saving on average.
Sue Day, Strategic Procurement Officer, Monmouthshire County
Council, said:
“Monmouthshire
County Council has recently participated in several collaborative mini
competition exercises conducted by the NPS, the commodities covered include
Agency Staff, Tyres & Associated Services and Fuel Cards. As a small local
authority we are heavily dependent on the NPS frameworks as our route to
market, it reduces the burden of conducting a full tender procedure and
provides economies of scale which may result in additional savings on the
previously agreed framework rates. We will continue to explore future
opportunities of collaboration with the help of our NPS colleagues.”
The NPS is keen to conduct
mini-competitions for the recently awarded Insurance
Services agreement. If any customer has a requirement and would be
keen to explore mini-competitions further please
visit our website for further information and contact details: http://nps.gov.wales/news/mini-competitions?lang=en
Procurex Wales Live!
The second ever Procurex Wales Live event was held on 6 October
2016 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. Over 1000 delegates attended the
largest gathering of procurement professionals, and delegates from the public
and private sectors, ever seen in Wales.
The event offered a unique opportunity for both the public and
private sector to showcase innovation, network and collaborate, and enhance
their skills and knowledge through a variety of training, support and guidance
zone.
A full complement of staff from across the National Procurement
Service, Corporate Procurement Services, Value Wales, Transport Procurement,
Sell2Wales and Business Wales were on hand to provide advice and support at the
Welsh Government Pavilion throughout the day.
Further information and a link to
the day’s image gallery can be found on our website: http://nps.gov.wales/news/procurex-wales-live?lang=en
GO Awards Success for the National
Procurement Service and Welsh Government!
The National Procurement Service (NPS) and Welsh Government have been
named winners at the inaugural Government Opportunities (GO) Awards Wales
2016/17.
The GO Awards Wales
were held on 6 October 2016, with the team emerging victorious in the ‘GO
Innovation or Initiative of the Year Award – Central Government and NHS’
category.
Find out more on our website: http://nps.gov.wales/news/go-awards-success?lang=en
Further Education Sector Day
Further Education (FE) colleges in
Wales and NPS deepened engagement with the first NPS FE Sector Day that took place on 22 September. The aims were to better understand the sector and improve access to collaborative
procurement opportunities.
With nine out of 14
colleges from across Wales represented, the FE Heads of Procurement came together to
share best practice and learn more about accessing NPS frameworks.
Attendees overwhelmingly supported another FE Sector Day, with 90% indicating
another day would be useful for them. The next NPS FE Sector Day will take
place on 30 November. We’re delighted that Cardiff & Vale College have
offered to host this event at their new campus on Dumballs Road. Invitations
will be issued to FE colleges shortly.
Read more about the FE Sector day on our website: http://nps.gov.wales/news/further-education-sector-day?lang=en
Home Energy Efficiency
Improvements and Advice
The
NPS will be delivering two major procurements in partnership with the Welsh
Government; the Arbed 3 scheme and Nest. Nest is a demand led scheme with
delivery to individual private tenure homes across Wales, based upon the
eligibility of the householder. Arbed 3 is area based, with delivery to
‘streets’ of homes of all tenures.
Both
activities are currently delivered through scheme managers, and to drive out
duplication and ensure continuity, the NPS will lead the procurement activity.
The Arbed scheme will also include provision of scheme management services for
use by local authorities, to ensure rapid deployment of future Arbed 3 funding.
NPS has published a Prior Information Notice on Sell2Wales to supplement the market engagement exercise, and will then be taking forward options to the NPS
Delivery Group. Details of public sector stakeholder events can be found in the 'Forward Look' table below.
2. Forward Look
To ensure we give as much advance notice of NPS events as possible, we have
created the following Forward Look table. Please contact the relevant category
mailbox for further information, and remember to keep an eye on the NPS Twitter and LinkedIn
pages and Sell2Wales for event announcements.
Forward Look at Buyer events:
http://gov.wales/docs/nps/161024-look-forward-en.pdf
3. Current and upcoming activity by category
There are a number of Notices listed below. All will be advertised through Sell2Wales, however please share this information with
as many suppliers as possible if you think they would be interested.
If you would like further information, please contact the relevant team by e-mail.
Construction, Facilities Management and Utilities
Contract Award Notices
Updates
- Provision of Highways Lighting Products - we are seeking sector representatives to sit on the Category Forum Group for this framework. Please contact the mailbox below if you would like to be involved.
- NPS will shortly be commencing work on the development of a framework for the Maintenance and Installation of Passenger Lifts. A Category Forum Group will be established to inform the framework over the coming months. Please contact the mailbox below for further information.
- Hire of Non Operated Plant and Equipment - a meeting of the Category Forum Group (CFG) is being held on 2 November. The full scope of the framework is to be agreed by the CFG, but is expected to include a range of equipment such as road rollers, water pumps and onsite containers. The arrangement is scheduled to commence in March 2017.
Contact: NPSConstruction&FM@wales.gsi.gov.uk
Corporate and Business Support Services
Updates
- Supply of High Visibility and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Uniforms, Workwear and Leisurewear - the Welsh Purchasing Consortium agreement and associated catalogues have been extended as an interim measure. We are in the process of drafting a new options appraisal and timeline for review by the Category Forum Group and Delivery Group.
- Stationery and Copier Paper - the deadline for tender submissions was 19 September 2016 and technical evaluations are now taking place.
- Media Agency Framework - we are looking to establish a Category Forum Group for the renewal of this framework. The first meeting of this
group will take place on the 16 November 2016 at the Welsh Government Office, Bedwas with Video Conferencing facilities to Llandudno Junction. Please contact the mailbox below if you would like to be involved, or have any feedback on the existing agreement.
Contact: NPSCorporateServices@wales.gsi.gov.uk
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Fleet and Transport
Prior Information Notices
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Framework for the Spot Hire of Specialist Vehicles over 3.5 Tonnes GVW - issued 26 September 2016. The current framework for Specialist Vehicle Hire let by WPC and led by Newport City Council is due to expire 1 May 2017. NPS will shortly be establishing a Category Forum Group (CFG) for this framework. Customers interested in participating as a sector representative, please contact the mailbox below.
Updates
- Fuel Cards - NPS hosted a Fuels event on 7 September in collaboration with CCS and UK Fuel Cards. Event presentations are available on request to the mailbox below. Gareth Bicker from UK Fuel Cards will be happy to visit any interested customer organisations. Please contact the mailbox below if you would like further information.
- Tyres - mini-competitions and direct awards are now complete for nearly all NPS customers. Savings results for customers are between 9% - 45%. Customers undertaking a direct award have reported savings of 9% on average. Customers who have undertaken a further competition through the NPS Fleet team, have reported savings of 11% on average.
- NPS Annual Fleet Survey - This survey aims to capture data on the Welsh public sector fleet profile and breakdown of costs of individual customers in order to give us a "whole life cost" view of fleet operations, and inform the future NPS pipeline. If you wish to complete this survey, and have no yet received a cope, please contact the mailbox below. The deadline for completion of this survey is 7 November 2016.
Contact: NPSFleet@wales.gsi.gov.uk
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Food
Upcoming Contract Award Notices
- Prepared Sandwiches and Sandwich Fillings; and Frozen Plated Meals - both frameworks are currently under evaluation and are due to be awarded in November.
Upcoming Prior Information Notices
- A Prior Information Notice for the eleven remaining contracts/frameworks will be published during November, with procurements commencing in early 2017.
Updates
- There have been three new additions to the NPS Food team recently:
- Lynda Scutt joins as Head of Category - Jill Gomez joins as Category Manager - Mark Grant is now Category Advisor
Contact: NPSFood@wales.gsi.gov.uk
Information and Communications Technology
Contract Notices
Upcoming Contract Award Notices
- Information Assurance Services - evaluation of tenders and quality assurance checks are nearing completion, with a planned go live date of late October. Thank you to all Category Forum Group members and evaluators for their hard work on this framework.
Updates
- The next phase of the ICT Pipeline has now been prepared following a customer survey which gathered requirements from across the sectors. A presentation on the proposed next phase was given to SOCITM on 28 July. If you would still like to take part in the survey or receive further information, please contact the ICT mailbox below. We will be sharing the proposed pipeline over the coming weeks and it was presented to audiences at the Procurex Wales event on 6 October.
- Multifunctional Devices and Internal Managed Print Services - work is ongoing to scope the framework. A technical working group was held on 7 September 2016 to discuss the specific requirements and technical specifications for the Core Goods list. The Options Appraisal has also been circulated to the NPS Delivery Group for approval. Thank you to all that have attended the meetings, and for your continued support. We are still looking for technical experts to form the evaluation panel and if you are willing to assist, please contact the ICT mailbox below.
- Work has commenced to look at the requirements for a student information management framework. If you would like to be involved or want to find out more please contact the ICT mailbox below.
- User satisfaction surveys are currently with customers, leading up to the second set of service review meetings for the IT Products and Services (ITPS) framework. A core goods review to update the ITPS catalogues is also underway with revised catalogues scheduled to be in place in October. It is intended that this will address the issue of missing catalogues that have been experienced with some of the framework lots.
- We are actively thinking about the second set of 'Meet the Buyer/Supplier' events for North and South Wales, following our initial events in April 2016. These are planned for mid 2017. Over the coming months we will be asking for any suggestions or ideas that you may have to help make next year's events a success.
Contact: NPSICTCategoryTeam@wales.gsi.gov.uk
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People Services
Contract Award Notices
Updates
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Employee Benefits
Framework - a new Health Screening Salary Sacrifice Scheme and other
Health related products including Health Cash Plans and Life Insurance are now
available to all customer organisations under the Employee Benefits
Framework.
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Due to the HMRC salary sacrifice consultation currently taking place, further customer events will now be scheduled for early next year, following the release of the Autumn statement in November, where any changes will be reflected. Further information regarding the HMRC consultation can be found online here.
- There will be a Human Resources event taking place on 22 November 2016 at Waterton Centre, Bridgend, offering opportunity to meet NPS Category Managers and framework providers. NPS is also keen to obtain your thoughts on any future HR procurement activity that the NPS can assist with. Further details can be found in the 'Forward Look' section above.
Contact: NPSPeopleServices&utilities@wales.gsi.gov.uk
Professional Services
Contract Notices
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Legal Services by Barristers - issued 10 October 2016. Deadline for submissions 18 November 2016. Further testing of the model has been undertaken with both the market, the Bar Council and the Category Forum Group with confirmation all are content with the procurement approach.
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Updates
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Insurance Services - we're keen to support organisations taking their first steps in using the framework. Should you have any upcoming requirements, please contact the mailbox below to discuss the support available. A webinar was recorded and delivered through the Association of Local Authority Risk Managers (ALARM) in September, highlighting the agreement and its use:
http://www.alarm-uk.org/login?ReturnUrl=/events-and-webinars/past-webinars
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NEC 3 Professional Services Contract Awareness Training - over 90 public sector delegates attended the events facilitated by the NPS and delivered by one of our framework providers WSP. Please find further information on our website: http://nps.gov.wales/news/nec-3-professional-training?lang=en
- Legal Training - suppliers on our Legal Services by Solicitors framework are offering a wide range of training and briefing events. A full schedule can be found online here.
Contact: NPSProfessionalServices@wales.gsi.gov.uk
4. Savings
NPS is reporting a 3.29% savings rate this financial year against total spend through Contracts and Framework Agreements under management. This includes on-boarded agreements.
The overall total savings equate to £1,258,228 from 1st April 2016 – 31st July 2016.
If you require further clarification of these savings, please contact your NPS Sector Representative or your Head of Procurement.
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