Government: Mega IT framework to save taxpayer £6.5m this year

Cabinet Office formally unveils list of 17 suppliers to make it onto new £4bn IT hardware and solutions framework

The government expects its new monster hardware and solutions framework to save the taxpayer £6.5m in the current financial year alone.

As reported by ChannelWeb, winning bidders for the Government Procurement Service's (GPS) new framework for standard and non-standard IT desktop/infrastructure and commoditised services were informed of their success last week.

The Cabinet Office said the 12-Lot framework – which is worth a potential £4bn over four years – featured a "good mix of suppliers", including OEMs, SMBs and resellers (see below for full list).

A Cabinet Office representative told ChannelWeb that the framework would go live by the end of July.

The framework is designed to save the taxpayer money by increasing the government's buying power on a modest number of SKUs.

The Cabinet Office said the award supports the delivery of the government's ICT strategy and is projected to save taxpayers £6.5m by 31 March next year.

The use of eAuctions on 10 of the 12 Lots drove down costs by 22 per cent from the opening bids, it said, adding that it will be running further auctions on behalf of customers to achieve greater savings against catalogue pricing "where there are committed volumes".

Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude (pictured) said: "The award of this framework is great news for the taxpayer.

"It is another example of how procurement reforms are driving down the costs of government purchasing, opening up the marketplace to suppliers of all sizes, and making a competitive range of innovative products available."

The framework, which is open to all organisations across the public sector, has been let for two years, with the option to extend up to a maximum of four years.

The Cabinet Office stressed the £4bn sum represents a potential maximum amount over four years, and should not be taken as a commitment of what it intends to spend.

It also issued a formal rundown of the succesful bidders.

Academia Ltd
Akhter
Centerprise International Ltd
Computacenter (UK) Ltd
Dell Corporation Ltd
Ergo Computing UK Ltd
Fujitsu Services Ltd
Hewlett-Packard Ltd
Insight Direct (UK) Ltd
Kelway International Ltd
Lenovo Technology (UK) Ltd
Misco UK Ltd
Softcat Ltd
Specialist Computer Centre
Stone Computers Ltd
Viglen Ltd
XMA Ltd