How to procure digital services in the public sector

August 2, 2022

As a public sector organisation, you’ll be familiar with the hassle of procuring digital services. Going through an entire OJEU process can take much more time and money than you’d like. Thankfully, there are other methods you could use, all of which are OJEU-compliant but are simpler to engage with.

Here at AMDH Services, we spend a good deal of time working with public sector organisations in the UK. We know the difficulties you face! Don’t worry; we’re registered with a few different OJEU-compliant frameworks to make your procurement of digital services as stress-free and manageable as possible.

Using the Bloom Marketplace to procure digital services from AMDH

Bloom NEPRO is a digital procurement framework allowing you to give out contracts based on either direct award or mini-competition. It’s probably the most efficient way to get things rolling since you can expect to have a contractor starting work for you in just 13 days.

Although it’s an alternative way to procuring professional and consultancy services, it’s compliant with all legislation and regulatory requirements. Everything that passes through Bloom is carefully checked, vetted and insured.

Before a contract, you’ll establish all the details, meaning there will be no surprises. Outcomes, expectations and milestones will all be set before anything is agreed upon.

Using Consultancy+ to procure digital services from AMDH

Consultancy+ is an OJEU-compliant service using the Reed platform to help you procure services for your public sector organisation. It’s great for breaking costs down so you can see exactly where all of your spending is going.

Reed also supports direct awards and mini-competitions. Again, it’s a perfectly legal alternative to the standard OJEU route but is much cheaper and simpler to utilise.

Using G-Cloud to procure digital services from AMDH

The G-Cloud framework is an agreement between Government and suppliers that allows buyers to procure services faster and more cheaply than by entering into individual procurement contracts.

All public sector organisations, including agencies and arm’s length bodies, can use G-Cloud to procure services from private sector providers. Buyers looking for a supplier don’t have to allow suppliers to bid for the work at all as it’s a catalogue service. Suppliers list their services on the digital marketplace website, and buyers can initially run a keyword search to create a list of suitable providers. If there are too many suppliers to quickly make a choice, they will then assess all long-listed the suppliers against a common criteria they define (such as do they mention the service I want on their website? Are they UK based? Do they have support? Are they a gold partner with Microsoft? etc). This allows buyers to create their own shortlist and either award a contract at this point, or contact the shortlisted suppliers for more information and then award based on the information those suppliers provide. The frustration for a small business is that this process is totally invisible to them, unless the buyer gets in touch.

The Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework

This framework allows all public sector organisations to find suppliers who can design, build and deliver bespoke digital services using an agile approach. It includes listings for suppliers who provide:

Digital outcomes, such as new integrated websites, strategic delivery programmes or accessibility audits
Digital specialists, such as data scientists or developers
User research studios, which are physical spaces in which to conduct user research
User research participants, who are users with the appropriate characteristics to test your service

While this makes it easier for public sector organisations to procure digital services, in practice, it doesn’t provide a level playing field as it tends to favour larger businesses who can provide more examples of previous work due to their size.

How AMDH can help your public sector organisation

AMDH Services is no longer operating so cannot provide any services. The frameworks listed above may well allow you to find another suitable supplier.