Our latest agreement for back office software solutions, with increased opportunities for SMEs, is launched

The Back Office Software 2 [RM6285] agreement will provide a route to market for any UK public sector organisation wishing to purchase Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for back office applications, either in the cloud, on-premise or hybrid. 

The agreement will replace the incumbent Back Office Software [RM6194] agreement, which expires in April 2025. In addition to providing access to a large range of SMEs, it is also an agreement  that allows customers to contract directly with large software vendors such as Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, and IBM to enable competition between them as well, ensuring maximum value for money.

Back office software systems significantly improve productivity by streamlining administrative tasks, automating repetitive processes, centralising data access, and enabling better decision-making through real-time insights. Through providing a wide range of flexible and innovative software solutions, the new agreement will help to enable civil servants and public sector workers to focus on more strategic work, reducing overall operational inefficiencies across departments.

97 suppliers have been awarded a place on the framework, 53% of which are SMEs. 

The framework scope was determined through a series of market engagement sessions. It will be similar to the previous iteration but will differ by featuring 2 new distinct lots: 

Lotting structure

Lot 1 Enterprise Software

Lot 2 Software specialised solutions

Lot 1 will cover the provision of software tools including accounting software, payroll systems, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.

Lot 2 will cover the same range of products but is designed for lower-value innovative solutions to deploy back-office software, to encourage opportunity within the SME community. 

For both of the 2 lots, buyers will have the option of procuring through directly awarded contracts or further competition. Customers can also buy associated services at the same time as their software including application design, systems architecture and data migration. 

The agreement will run for an initial term of 30 months, plus optional extensions up to a further 18 months – which could be applied for both lots, or only one. An additional key change will be the removal of Call-Off contract length limits to improve flexibility for customers

Philip Orumwense, Commercial Director and Chief Technology Procurement Officer, Crown Commercial Service says: 

This new framework provides better value for the nation through the use of cost effective and more efficient back office software solutions, freeing up civil service time to focus on providing services for citizens. 

It is yet another example of how CCS is helping to improve interoperability throughout the public sector by making it easier for organisations to link different back-office computer systems and make better use of real time data whilst enabling the acceleration of modern digital government.

Find out more

To find out more about Back Office Software 2 visit the agreement webpage or contact the CCS Service Desk at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk or 0345 410 2222.

Don’t forget, you can find a full list of all the commercial agreements we offer, alongside details of how we can help you build policy considerations into your procurement, in our interactive digital brochure.