Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2016-01-20
Buyer: Kent County Council
Country: UK
Region: UNITED KINGDOM
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 30121100 | 30121200 | 30121300 | 30123000 | 30125000
Estimated value:  GBP
Submission deadline: 2016-02-24
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Commercial Services is one of the largest trading organisations of its kind in Europe with a turnover in excess of 600 000 000 GBP and employing over 700 people from its base in Kent. Tracing its roots back to 1902, as an education stores department for Kent County Council, Commercial Services has subsequently grown organically to supply an ever-increasing range of best value goods and services to other publicly funded organisations. These include local government, education establishments, the care sector and the emergency services. KCS is a trading unit of Commercial Services and provides a purchasing, warehousing and distribution service to a wide ranging customer base within local government and associated public bodies in Kent, neighbouring counties and across the UK. Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest local authority in England covering an area of 3 500 km². It has an annual expenditure of circa. 1 000 000 000 GBP on goods and services with a population of 1 500 000. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils and 309 parish/town councils. In accordance with best procurement practice, EU and UK Procurement Directives and Regulations, KCS, on behalf of the Central Buying Consortium, wishes to create a Framework Agreement (the Agreement) for the supply and delivery of Managed Services for Business Solutions.‘Managed Service’ is the practice of outsourcing day-to-day management responsibilities and functions as a strategic method for transforming and improving business processes and cutting operating costs. A service may include, but not be limited to, software, hardware, digital mailroom, and purchase to pay automation, cloud storage, document workflow management, data security and data loss prevention systems, Customer communication management systems and other IP networking Services.
The procurement process adopted by the Contracting Authority is based upon the ‘Open’ Procedure, as detailed in the ‘Public Contract Regulations 2015’.
‘Managed Service’ is the practice of outsourcing day-to-day management responsibilities and functions as a strategic method for transforming and improving business processes and cutting operating costs. A service may include, but not be limited to, software, hardware, digital mailroom, and purchase to pay automation, cloud storage, document workflow management, data security and data loss prevention systems, Customer communication management systems and other IP networking Services.
Individual opportunities will need to be tailored to meet the Customer's requirement to improve efficiency and drive down the overall cost of their processes.
This opportunity will be completed electronically via ProContract, a site run by Due North. Interested organisations should go to www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk to register and express interest. To express interest select ‘Current Opportunities’, from the ‘Organisation’ drop down box select ‘Commercial Services’, click search and select the appropriate opportunity. Once you have successfully expressed interest via the portal you will be sent an email directing you to the ProContract site from which you will be able to access and download the invitation to tender documentation and any other relevant information. This email should be retained, as it will contain your direct link to the ProContract portal, for information purposes only the link is www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/procontract/supplier.nsf Do not use this link now. Tenderers should also note that final submissions must be made via ProContract, no other submission route is permitted. Failure to follow this path will result in the tender submission being disregarded. All documents pertaining to this opportunity will be available for download via the ProContract portal from the outset. Please ensure you are able to download all files immediately after accessing the ProContract portal. Other public bodies will have access to this Agreement but may only do so with the Agreement of the Contracting Authority. Those organisations who may wish to access this Agreement will be members, affiliates and associates of the CBC Group, Local government authorities, the Police Service, the Fire Service, the NHS & NHS Trusts, third sector organisations, academic centres (including Academies), publicly funded organisations and publicly owned private companies, operating within the geographic boundaries of the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Northern Ireland. Full details of the classification of potential Contracting Bodies and Customer's geographical areas and organisation classifications are detailed as follows: Regions in England: Main Regions:- East Midlands; West Midlands; East of England; South East; South West; North West; North East; Yorkshire & Humber; London or to individual administering Councils. See link: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/index.htmNorthern Ireland: Administered across 26 Districts of Northern Ireland. See link:http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/local-councils-in-northern-irelandScotland: Administered across 32 Council areas. See link:http://www.cosla.gov.uk/scottish-local-governmentWales: Administered across 22 Council areas. See link:http://wales.gov.uk/topics/localgovernment/?skip=1&lang=enClassification of Customer Organisations Local Authority Councils: County, Unitary, District, Borough, and Metropolitan Councils. (Parish and Community Councils are also permissible users). See link:http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/index.htmEducational Establishments: Nursery School, Primary School, Middle or High School, Secondary School, Academy, Special School, Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), Further Education College, University. See links:http://www.schoolswebdirectory.co.uk/index.phphttp://www.ukschoolsdirectory.net/searchresult.phpwww.education.gov.uk/edubase www.hefce.ac.uk http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/aboutus/members/Pages/default.aspxPolice, Fire & Rescue & Maritime & Coastguard Agency Emergency Services: See links:http://www.police.uk/forces.htmhttp://www.fireservice.co.uk/http://www.nifrs.org/http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-home.htmNHS Bodies, the HSC (Northern Ireland) and Ambulance Services:See links:http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/AcuteTrustListing.aspxhttp://www.hscni.net/index.php?link=trustshttp://www.nhs24.com/findlocal/http://www.scottishambulance.com/AboutUs/HowWeOrganised.aspxhttp://www.wales.nhs.uk/nhswalesaboutus/structureCentral Government Departments & their Agencies: See link:http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/A-ZOfCentralGovernment/index.htmRegistered Charities: See links: http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/About_us/Regulation/Registering_charities_index.aspx http://www.oscr.org.uk /http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/contacts/contacts-az.htm/housing-associations-contactRegistered Social Landlords: Government-funded, not-for-profit organisations that provide affordable housing. They include housing associations, trusts and cooperatives. See link:http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=7175736http://www.nhfdirectory.co.ukhttp://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/index.htm Northern Ireland: Administered across 26 Districts of Northern Ireland. See link:http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/local-councils-in-northern-ireland Scotland: Administered across 32 Council areas. See link:http://www.cosla.gov.uk/scottish-local-governmentWales: Administered across 22 Council areas. See link:http://wales.gov.uk/topics/localgovernment/?skip=1&lang=en Suppliers are advised that the Contracting Authority, its affiliates and/or authorised users, reserve the right to supply the tendered products, Services, and commodities to companies that have a majority public sector ownership by any of the public sector bodies referred to above during the Agreement period as stated in this document, for the purpose of selling to other public, private and third sector organisations.