Quality Assurance and Testing DPS Supplier Update
CCS recently held a supplier update for their upcoming Quality Assurance and Testing for IT Systems DPS. If you weren’t lucky enough to be there, we've got you covered.
What did we find out?
Building on the success of the first iteration, Quality Assurance and Testing for IT Systems 2 (catchy name) will offer an increased scope and scale of service offerings to Public Sector Buyers, covering all aspects of Quality Assurance & Testing.
Framework or DPS?
Whereas the last iteration of this agreement was a framework, CCS have decided to run it as a DPS this time round. CCS see a number of key benefits to DPS’s – including that they are simpler and quicker, flexible for suppliers, and allow greater choice for Buyers. This choice continues an interesting trend of CCS DPS’s released recently – including the SPARK DPS for innovative tech, the Gigabit Capable Connectivity DPS for Gigabit Capable Tech, and the planned Cyber Security Services 3 DPS.
What is a DPS?
A Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), is different from a framework in a few key areas. Where frameworks have an application time limit, DPS’s remain open to applications for the life of the agreement. Where frameworks often have supplier caps, DPS’s are open to an infinite number of suppliers. Where within frameworks Buyers can often direct award, in DPS’s there is no direct award of contracts. And finally (one of the key points) – in a framework your pricing is fixed at the point of tender, whereas in a DPS, your pricing is determined at the contract award stage.
When will the OJEU be released?
The OJEU is set to be released on the 29th October 2019, and will be open for applications on the 31st. Buyers will be able to access the DPS on the go-live date of 2nd December 2019.
Some suppliers of Quality Assurance services may now be thinking – why should I apply for this DPS when I’m already on G-Cloud under the QA category in the Support Lot? It’s a good point – aren’t CCS duplicating procurement routes here? We saw the same thing happen with Cyber Security Services 2 – multiple procurement routes (G-Cloud and CSS2) meant that the spend on CSS2 was far lower than CCS expected. To fix this, CCS enforced a new rule for GC11, stopping suppliers selling NCSC-approved services through G-Cloud; forcing Buyers to go down the new Cyber Security Services 3 route. It may be possible that CCS will do the same thing with this DPS, and cut Quality Assurance out of G-Cloud 12, ensuring buyers go down the route of this DPS. We’ll have to wait and see!
If you’re a supplier of Quality Assurance and Testing services, you’ll want to be on this framework. Give us a call today if this sounds like you!
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