Find out how the arm’s length body used our Technology Products and Associated Services (TePAS) framework to save on IT equipment by bulk buying the kit they needed to enable smarter working.

Published 9 February 2021

Last updated 9 February 2021

The requirement

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) wanted to buy a large volume of laptops and docking stations for their staff. The equipment was needed to facilitate a move to smarter working and relocation to an office in London, which was being shared with 4 other arm’s length bodies of the Department for Health and Social Care.

NICE needed to move from their existing zero clients (a server-based computing model in which the end user’s computing device has no local storage) to laptops. This would mean desks in the office could be shared between all 5 organisations, each with a separate network to accommodate their different needs. Having laptops with the camera, microphone and speakers needed for virtual meetings would also mean staff could work from home during the COVID-19 lockdowns. NICE had selected the equipment models they wanted and was looking to buy them at the best available price.

The solution

NICE identified lot 2, Hardware and Associated Services, on the TePAS framework as the best route to market to achieve this. TePAS offers competitive prices on products and services from a wide range of specialist suppliers.

Using the framework they ran a simplified further competition, evaluated on price only, inviting all of the suppliers on lot 2 of the framework to bid.

The results

After evaluating a number of bids, Specialist Computer Centres (SCC) provided the best quote. Even though COVID-19 drastically delayed the delivery, SCC kept NICE updated with the order’s progress through one of the most challenging times ever experienced for technology supply.

NICE achieved a saving of just over £250,000 against list price by using the TePAS framework, and SCC ensured timely delivery of the equipment.

For further information

Our TePAS framework offers you a flexible way to buy IT hardware, off-the-shelf software and associated services to suit your organisation’s technology needs.

To find out how we can help you:

Case study