CCS aggregation helps 5 customers make big savings of almost £497,000 on IT Hardware

The requirement

Many organisations routinely purchase the same commodity goods such as laptops, desktops, servers and peripherals, as and when they need them. However, some customers experience issues pulling together their specifications to ensure their technical requirements are fully met.

A group of 5 fire and rescue service customers were seeking to replace their in-vehicle Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) devices as support contracts were near end of life.

All of the services had a requirement for MDT devices with comprehensive warranty cover. In addition to this, some of the customers also required installation of the MDT devices into their emergency vehicle fleet and various device accessories.

We wanted to help the fire and rescue services achieve greater savings by standardising their requirements and aggregating volume, which would in turn increase buying power as larger volumes would be taken to market.

The solution

One of our national further competitions, which are based on a standardised specification, was created  for this group of customers, as the aggregated value of this requirement was expected to attract more interest from suppliers.

Using the Crown Commercial Service Technology Products 2 framework agreement (RM3733) lot 1, a further competition was run and the most economically advantageous offer in the market was found by taking into consideration both price and non-price factors. The further competition was concluded with sealed bids.

The customers worked together to agree a common, agnostic, technical specification which met each of their requirements. Emergency services required a reliable, robust device with upgraded technology to operate flexibly and efficiently in a range of differing environments and to effectively handle any emergency incident.

The results

The competition, which happened in July 2019, brought together a common technical specification for 428 MDT devices on behalf of 5 fire and rescue services. It achieved on average an indicative 30% saving compared to a blend of current market prices where available and average bid price. This is the equivalent of a total saving of £497,868 for the customers who took part. These results clearly demonstrate that with aggregated volumes and the adoption of a common technical specification for a product or service, significant cost savings can quickly be realised.

For further information

National aggregated further competitions are a tried and tested approach which has delivered significant savings to the public sector.

This is a fully managed service provided and funded by us. We will draft all documents, build the specification and run the procurement.

Customers only need to complete a form to express their interest, provide the final volume of services required before we go to market, and sign a contract with the successful supplier.

We would like to hear from customers who are interested in securing savings by aggregating their requirements with other customers for commodity goods and services.

You have until September 2019 to take part in our latest IT Hardware aggregation. To express an interest or speak to a member of our team, please get in touch quoting ‘NFC114 IT hardware aggregation’ in the comments box.