The UK’s Home Office wants to spend at least £5 million contract to recruit a supplier to help manage the selection of its IT projects.
The notice published in the public sector Digital Marketplace is seeking a company to help deliver and operate the “discovery-as-a-service” capability for the “Innovation – Law Enforcement” (I-LE) function within the Police and Public Protection Technology Portfolio (PPPT), with a £5 million contract. Parse that.
However, the contract leaves open the possibility of the winning supplier managing the project selection process in favour of services it offers which appears a little unfair to the compeition.
The Home Office insists that it is not building a sales pipeline for the winning supplier. The Demand Management process will ensure that all work meets the needs and priorities of the Home Office in the most appropriate and efficient way to deliver value for money.
In a statement it said: “All associated procurement will adhere to the public procurement policy framework, ensuring free and open competition and value for money.”
There is a bit of a stir in the UK at the moment after the former chief commercial officer Bill Crothers, who founded the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), responsible for much of the cross-Whitehall IT spending and large government frameworks, is at the centre of a media storm over commercial lobbying in government.
For those not in the know, Crothers joined Greensill Capital, a supply chain finance firm, as an adviser before he left the civil service in 2015. Former prime minister David Cameron, who worked as a special adviser to the Greensill board, is alleged to have sent texts and emails to ministers while working for the company.
