03 January 2023

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) awarded its Mobile Voice and Data Services framework contract to ten suppliers, with BT, Virgin Media Business, and Vodafone UK among them.

The £2.5bn agreement aims to provide the UK public sector with “improved mobile options and transparent pricing, enabling greater control and choice over compliant purchasing decisions,” as well as to “simplify the procurement process and provide best pricing for core services.”

The CCS noted that the contract will be the “recommended vehicle for all mobile voice and data requirements” across the public sector, including for private and voluntary organisations delivering services of a public nature.

The agreement was said to cover the “full spectrum of mobile usage across the public sector, from small users such as schools, all the way to large government departments.” It includes eSIM technology for smoother transitioning between suppliers for end users, and transparent pricing arrangements to enable cross-provider comparison and foster competition between suppliers.

“For the first time, customers will have access to transparent pricing by line item. Supplier pricing will be shown against their competitors so they are easily comparable. This will be supported by a free mobile standard tariff price comparison tool that calculates each customer’s potential savings,” said a CCS spokesperson.

Two lots of the agreement cover mobile voice and data solutions, with two additional lots to provide services for auditing spend and usage levels, as well as professional support on issues including strategy, system and service integration, and security solutions.

The CCS noted that ten suppliers awarded a share of the deal were small- and medium-size enterprises, comprising a collection of IT and telecoms service providers: Abzorb Systems; Fleet Mobile; Intercity Technology; Mason Advisory, Nuvoli; and Southern Communications Corporate Solutions. Gamma Communications won the remaining place on the contract as a larger provider.

Set to go live mid-January 2023, the contract will last for two years, with two one-year extension options available. It will replace Lot 6 of the Network Services 2 framework established in August 2019 and covers all mobile voice and data services. Plans for Network Services 3 are in CCS’s pipeline, which will create a framework for network services across 5G, communications infrastructure, fibre, and IoT, among others.

The agreement was an “integral part of enabling service delivery for the public sector. This new agreement uses the buying power that CCS has, to deliver cost-effective and soundly procured services for potentially hundreds of thousands of users right across the UK, offering an average of 60% savings on core services,” said Philip Orumwense, commercial director & chief procurement officer for Technology at CCS.