Buying Solutions delays outcome of £6bn framework

The outcome of the £6bn framework has been put back by a week

Resellers have expressed their frustration as the outcome of Buying Solutions’ £6bn commodity IT framework was delayed again.

As revealed by ChannelWeb, some 21 firms were told they had reached the Intention to Award (ITA) phase earlier this month and the final award letters were set to be sent out on Monday 22 February.

However, Buying Solutions has now extended the “standstill period” until 1 March, fuelling speculation that one or more of the unsuccessful candidates has lodged an official appeal.

Dell, HP, Bytes, BT, Centerprise and XMA were among the large outfits not to feature on any of the three Lots, which cover the supply of desktop hardware, infrastructure hardware and commodity software into central government, local authorities and NHS trusts, respectively.

Although details were thin on the ground as CRN went to press, an official communication to suppliers read: “Buying Solutions is restarting the mandatory standstill period which ends on the 1 March 2010.”

A Buying Solutions representative confirmed to CRN that he was “aware of the situation” and that an official statement will be made this afternoon.

Andrew Henderson, commercial director at Lanway, which narrowly missed out at the ITA phase for the desktop hardware Lot, confirmed that his firm had asked for the reseller's response to be remarked.

“We were only eight per cent behind the lowest mark and feel we could pick that up quite easily,” he said. “We feel our response was marked unfairly.”

The three-and-a-half year framework was already heavily delayed after several firms appealed at the pre-qualification stage last year. This latest hitch will only add to fears that the new framework will not go live until after the new financial year starts.

One reseller who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The sooner we can get on the framework, the sooner we can transact. People will be frustrated but at the end of the day we want to make sure it is right and fair.”

Although familiar faces such as Computacenter, SCC, Insight and Misco secured a place at the ITA phase, smaller, niche resellers such as Cisco Gold partner ANS and Nottingham-based PC builder Ergo were also successful.