#crown-commercial-services

#crown-commercial-services

These ambitious spending targets will help ensure more government contracts go to SMEs, keeping more money, jobs and opportunities within local communities.

The framework covers vehicles powered by hydrogen, battery-electric and diesel technologies, as well as different bus formats including single-deck, double-deck, articulated and 6×2 models. Framework agreements are designed to streamline procurement processes by allowing public buyers to purchase vehicles without conducting a full open tender.

The Carrier Club has operated on the principle that 'in business, as in life, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.' This philosophy underpins its approach to procurement-as-a-service.

NCP has faced a challenging trading environment over several years, with changing consumer behaviours impacting volumes, and a high fixed cost-base leading to trading losses.

After an extensive two-and-a-half-year investigation, the CMA published its findings in July 2025. The report was explicit: Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft together account for roughly 80% of the UK's cloud services market, a duopoly so deeply entrenched that the watchdog recommended both companies be designated with strategic market status.

Sopra Steria claims the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which leads the shared services program for multiple departments, failed to spot that Capita's bid for the contract was "abnormally low" relative to Sopra Steria's tender for the same work. It also alleges that after the UK outsourcer was named preferred bidder for the contract, the DWP conducted further renegotiations around Capita's tender.

IT and tech suppliers to the UK public sector with the fastest-growing revenues increased incomes by an average of 1.8x and £3.8m each between 2023 and 2025. The fastest-growing companies were in the defence sector, with one company - SRC UK - growing revenue by 16x across the period. Those are some of the findings of public sector IT research specialist Tussell in its annual Tech200 report on the fastest-growing tech suppliers to the public sector.

Understanding the difference in purpose Unlike private businesses, which exist to make a profit, public institutions are designed to create impact - especially social and economic outcomes that benefit everyone, not just paying customers. A public agency doesn't measure its success in revenue or margins, but in how much it improves lives, builds equity and maintains public trust. This doesn't mean budgets and spending don't matter - they absolutely do - but money is not the goal. It's the tool.

The Hidden Cost of Poor Airport Transport Planning Missed pickups, last-minute cancellations, surge pricing, and unreliable availability can all disrupt carefully planned business schedules. Searching for a Taxi Near Me just hours before departure may work occasionally, but for executives heading to important meetings, uncertainty is not an option. Public transport delays, airport parking fees, fuel costs, and lost preparation time all add up. For SMEs managing tight budgets, these inefficiencies are more than inconvenient-they affect both financial performance and professional reputation.

Digital procurement has transformed how businesses find, evaluate and manage suppliers. Platforms are faster, data is cleaner, and decision making is more informed than ever before. Yet for all the efficiency digital tools bring, procurement still relies heavily on one timeless ingredient: human connection. Bridging the gap between digital procurement and real world supplier engagement is where the strongest partnerships are built.

GSA also wants information on factors that drive the range of markups such as volume, product category, support levels and business size. The questions also wants to know if sourcing hardware through a distributor versus directly with the OEM drives variations in the markups. GSA wants to identify ways to reduce the cost on items that are not purchased directly from OEMs.

For many B2B businesses, outbound sales has traditionally been driven by persistence rather than precision. Build lists, send emails, follow up relentlessly, and hope enough conversations convert into opportunities. For a long time, that approach worked. Today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Inbox competition is more intense than ever, decision-makers are harder to reach, and buyers are far more selective about where they spend their time.

Last month I sat with the operations manager of a 40-person London firm and watched her spend an entire morning copying order data from one spreadsheet into another. She'd done this every Friday for two years. Nobody had questioned it because that's just how we do things. UK workers waste 11.3 billion hours a year on administrative tasks like emailing, scheduling, and data entry, according to research from Dropbox.

The UK's Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is recruiting a chief digital and information officer, partly to help sort out its bot-ridden practical driving test booking system. "You will lead a critical portfolio that supports DVSA's plan (launched in December 2024) to reduce driving test waiting times, protect learner drivers from exploitation, and improve the customer booking system," stated chief executive Beverley Warmington, who joined the agency at the end of last year.

The UK's tax collector is budgeting to spend more than £2 billion on new tech deals in the next couple of years, including a contract set for AWS and another for Capgemini to be awarded without competition. According to a spreadsheet of the procurement pipeline for this year and next, His Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is starting with a data warehouse transformation program with a contract value estimated at £410 million.

Small British defence companies are set to gain easier access to Ministry of Defence contracts after the government launched a dedicated unit to simplify procurement and boost spending with smaller suppliers. The Ministry of Defence has unveiled the Defence Office for Small Business Growth, a new service designed to cut through what ministers describe as labyrinthine procurement processes that have historically shut small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) out of the defence market.

"If an organisation has performed so badly for its customers that it has become a national scandal and warranted its own TV drama, surely it's time the government spent its money elsewhere," Megawarne said.

Customer service in the UK has a problem. According to recent survey data, almost half of UK customers have experienced poor customer service over the past year. That's not a minor data point, but rather a warning sign. Long wait times, unhelpful responses, and automated loops that dead-end are just the beginning, and they erode customer trust quickly. While many businesses have invested heavily in digital tools and AI to help address these problems, that comes with its own drawbacks.

This is a new unit within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), led by Tristan Thomas, formerly of Monzo, and Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy. It aims to bring together the best civil service operators alongside leading private sector disruptors and transformation specialists. The plan is to use CustomerFirst expertise to rewire government services, making use of AI and best practices from the private sector.