The Scottish Government

Category Lead - Stuart Carruthers

Last Updated 28th November 2008

Introduction - Achievements to Date - Telecoms Projects - Technology Solutions - Next Steps - Feedback

National Category Forum

INTRODUCTION

The telecoms category has been defined using 4 Thomson categories - telecommunications services, mobiles phones, network & data communications, and telecommunications equipment & systems.

These include (but are not limited to):

• fixed line telephony, including call tariffs and lines rental
• mobile telephony and data
• installation of wires/cables/networks
• switching and other telephony equipment

The telecoms category as defined is consistent with the definition of a "Category A" commodity - goods or services that are standard or of a similar nature across the largely common requirements of users in the public sector in Scotland. More information on Category A can be found here.

ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE

(Update - November 08) Regional Stakeholder Workshops: Procurement Scotland, in conjunction with the telecoms National Category Forum, held 4 regional stakeholder workshops in August and September 2008. The purpose of these workshops was to give stakeholders an update on developments in the telecoms category to date, and to gather feedback on a number of proposed initial projects.

The feedback from these events has been very positive, and the information received during the various sessions will be invaluable in developing the initial telecoms projects over the coming months.

(Update - November 08) Business Process Improvements Project - BT Onebill:

Please review the case study for the latest details on the successful outcome of this project.

National Category Forum (NCF): The NCF is fully established, with support from organisations from across the Scottish public sector.

Collaboration with OGCbs:

• Telecoms network framework agreement - Procurement Scotland has produced a guide to the most recent OGCbs Telecoms Network framework. This covers the scope of the framework, a breakdown of the lots, and brief instructions on how to utilise it.
• Mobile Telephony - Procurement Scotland is working closely with OGCbs in this area, and accepted an invitation to join the OGCbs UK mobile national category forum in early 2008. Derrick Welsh (strategic buyer for telecoms) is the representative for the Scottish public sector, and has been working with OGCbs on the new mobile telephony framework, due to commence in February 2009, to ensure that Scotland's needs are addressed working closely with sector centres of expertise to reflect sector requirements. Further information on this, including a provisional timetable, can be found in the OGCbs Mobiles Framework Agreement update.
• Blackberry Cost Reduction - Procurement Scotland negotiated a £0.50/line/month reduction in line rental for Blackberry users with more than 1500 units on the Vodafone catalist contract. This reduction commenced in July 2008, and will result in an annualised cost reduction of around £50-75k among public sector bodies across the UK.

Telecoms Category Plan: The telecoms category plan is complete in draft, and has been endorsed by the NCF. As part of the process to develop the Category Plan, a telecoms survey and workshop were undertaken, with representative input from end user organisations in every sector.

Telecoms Survey: A telecoms survey was carried out in early 2008, initially targeting 24 of the highest spending organisations in the Scottish public sector. A response rate of 75% was achieved, covering around 42% of telecoms spend. Discussions are underway around whether to extend this survey to the rest of the public sector - opinions on this are welcome. Please review the summary of the survey results and key messages.

Initial Telecoms Workshop: Following the survey, a workshop was held in May 2008 in order to assess potential cross sector collaborative opportunities. The workshop representatives agreed on a number of projects worthy of prioritisation (see below). These were formally ratified at the June meeting of the NCF.

The 3 projects below have been identified and endorsed by the National Category Forum and a range of stakeholders. They were felt to present the best opportunities for immediate collaborative action, and will contribute to significant cashable and non cashable savings.

Fixed Telephony Services (voice calls, line rental and associated services): Initial data shows a typical variation of around 25%, and in some cases up to 50%, in call tariffs. For example, a sample of tariffs for peak local calls were found to range from around 0.8 pence/min to over 1.5 pence/minute. This clearly indicates a substantial cost saving opportunity. A key objective in this area is therefore market testing fixed telephony services with a goal of achieving maximum collaboration - this will amount to a multi-million pound procurement.

• Current status (November 08):

• A communication outlining the fixed telephony services project and asking for notifications of interest is currently being issued across the sectors. We already have strong expressions of interest from 7 organisations in local and central government through our work with the National Category Forum, and are now looking to build on this initial group. This project received a high level of endorsement at the recent stakeholder workshops, and we appreciate the continuing support.
• An increasing number of organisations are expressing interest in a service bundle/managed service approach. We intend to investigate this to determine whether there is sufficient demand to warrant a national initiative or pathfinder project, and which options could satisfy such a requirement. We recognise the need to take a cohesive approach across Scotland to ensure careful commercial consideration of long term value, and the effective coordinated management of the supply base.
• We recently worked with sector representatives to examine the Scottish Government Voice Services ITT to determine whether it would be possible to expand this to encompass other organisations. It was decided that the requirement was specific to Scottish Government. The contract will, however, be styled to allow early breakpoints to take advantage of any future national arrangement. It was also agreed that the requirement would be delivered through a further competition with the OGCbs Catalist framework.

• Next steps: Once baseline data has been gathered from participating organisations, Procurement Scotland will assess the most appropriate route to market, in conjunction with the NCF, sectoral CoEs and policy groups.

Mobile telephony and data: The current plan, endorsed by the NCF, is to take part in the new OGCbs mobile telephony framework on a national collaborative basis. This framework is due to commence in February 2009.

• Current status (November 08) : tenders for the new OCGbs framework have been received, and are currently being evaluated.

• Next steps: The OGCbs mobiles framework is on course for commencement in February 2009. Once this is in place, a decision will be made in consultation with the NCF and sectoral CoEs on whether to pursue a collaborative further competition.

Hardware procurement, maintenance and services: Information on sourcing in this area points to the need for a more coherent approach in dealing with the key suppliers. The initial phase of the project will concentrate on establishing baseline information, which is not currently available. This will allow us to identify potential opportunities for shorter term tender/e-auctions, as well as longer term requirements.

• Current status (November 08): work is underway to obtain the required baseline information for this project. Initial supplier meetings have been held.

• Next steps: Continue work to gather baseline data, including further discussions with key suppliers. Consider route to market, in conjunction with Scotland Excel and Procurement Scotland IT hardware projects currently underway.

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Procurement Scotland's sourcing approach not only considers the immediate opportunities and challenges of collaboration, but also identifies the importance of developing a coherent approach towards industry changes and technology solutions. Over time, the emergence of converged solutions with greater degrees of service based contracts will lead to an erosion of commodity procurement and will necessitate a greater focus on Technology Solutions. Examples of this include fixed/mobile convergence, managed voice services and hardware, software and implementation services. Procurement Scotland are working with various policy groups, both internally and through groups such as OGC Buying Solutions and other government bodies, to ensure early involvement in this key transition process and to support the development of new requirements.

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If you have any comments or suggestions, or would like more information, please get in touch with our team:

Stuart Carruthers (Category Lead); stuart.carruthers@scotland.gsi.gov.uk; 0141 242 5913

Derrick Welsh (Strategic Buyer); derrick.welsh@scotland.gsi.gov.uk; 0131 244 2067

Graham Ackerman (Market Analyst/Buyer); graham.ackerman@scotland.gsi.gov.uk; 0131 244 0453

Other Useful Contacts

APUC - Daron Gibb; dgibb@apuc-scot.ac.uk; 0131 442 8936

CGCoPE - Karen Anderson; karen.anderson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk; 0131 244 0293

Scotland Excel - Owen Paterson;owen.paterson@scotland-excel.org.uk; 0141 842 6664

SLGPF Management Committee - Ashley Gould; ashley.gould@highland.gov.uk; 01463 703989

NCF member organisations (as of November 2008)

• Aberdeenshire Council
• APUC (Advanced Procurement for Universities & Colleges)
• CGCoPE (Central Government Centre of Procurement Expertise)
• East Ayrshire Council
• Fife Council
• Glasgow Caledonian University
• Highland Council/Scottish Local Government Procurement Forum (SLGPF)
• North Lanarkshire Council
• Procurement Scotland
• Renfrewshire Council
• Scotland Excel
• Scottish Ambulance Service
• Scottish Government
• South Lanarkshire Council
• University of Edinburgh

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