Your views on the proposed new Government Procurement Service Framework

The AGI was recently sent a letter by a commercial member, Informed Solutions, regarding the proposed new Government Procurement Service Framework agreement.

This agreement is expected to replace the now lapsed Catalist framework which ended in late 2011 and is an area of interest that the AGI and its members have been closely following.

The letter expresses a number of concerns with the proposed Terms & Conditions, including their length, complexity, the potential onerous burden that they could put on commercial suppliers and the deterent effect that may have in particular for SMEs. An outcome which may not best serve the public sector buyer. To quote the letter, it states:

"The current proposed terms seem appropriate only for the very largest, multi-million pound contracts and would therefore require significant commercial effort and legal resources to ‘downsize’ for the vast majority of contract awards. This burden, on both suppliers and potential customers alike, is likely to significantly restrict the use of the framework to the detriment of all."

Following this Informed Solution's have articulated a number of suggestions that they are happy to share with the AGI membership. The letter is available HERE to view. 

The AGI would welcome any views on the subject from other AGI members to help form an AGI response, if required, to the Government Procurement Service, (for which we have established points of contact). Please send any views of the matter by email to: chris.holcroft@agi.org.uk

Chris Holcroft, AGI Director & CEO