My big, fat Barnet council contract #2: New Support and Customer Services Organisation, worth £750 million

To give an idea of the massive scale of the One Barnet outsourcing Programme, here, extracted from a notice on the Barnet Council Procurement Portal, are details of the contract offered for a New Support and Customer Services Organisation. Value of contract: £750 million over 10 years.

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority: New Support and Customer Services Organisation

Short description of the contract or purchase:
Services furnished by business, professional and specialist organisations. Information systems. Financial and insurance services. Corporate finance and venture capital services. Financial consultancy services. Real estate services. Development services of real estate. Development of residential real estate. Development of non-residential real estate. Residential property services. Non-residential property services. Energy-management services. Building services. Building consultancy services. Building services consultancy services. Construction-related services. Construction management services. Construction project management services. IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support. Information technology services. Information systems or technology strategic review services. Project management consultancy services. Document management services. Provision of services to the community. Benefit services. Miscellaneous business and business-related services. Customer services. Customer-care services. Financial management consultancy services. Human resources management consultancy services. Procurement consultancy services. Project-management services other than for construction work. Building and facilities management services. Facilities management services. Business organisation services.

The London Borough of Barnet is seeking to appoint a Strategic Partner, whether that would be a single bidder or a consortium, to manage various support and customer services functions under a partnership arrangement. This is to enable the council to meet its objective of service transformation and innovation to match customer need whilst ensuring business as usual activities are not compromised. The grouping of Barnet Council's support and customers services provides the borough with the opportunity to create a truly citizen-centric council. It provides partners with the opportunity to work innovatively with a forward thinking public sector body.

Remodelling support services delivery will provide improved services to internal and external customers. It will ensure the sustainability of the services in the light of a changing customer base due to the One Barnet programme and central government funding.

Barnet has been at the forefront of personalising services and the delivery of customer services is key to providing customers and residents with a positive experience of dealing with the council delivering a citizen centred council and developing deep insight as the basis for future commissioning decisions. The services in scope are as follows:
o Procurement
o Customer Services
o Estates (Asset Management, Building Services, Property Services)
o Finance
o Human Resources
o Information Systems
o Revenue and Benefits

The function of major project management, currently carried out predominantly through the Corporate Programmes Team, is also in scope for delivery by a provider.

This partnership is intended to run for approximately 10 years with the option to extend for a further 5 years and will be procured through the use of competitive dialogue process.

Estimated value excluding VAT:
Range between: 600000000 and 750000000
Currency: GBP

The contracting authority considers that this contract may be suitable for economic operators that are small or medium enterprises (SMEs). However, any selection of tenderers will be based solely on the criteria set out for the procurement, and the contract will be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender.

The London Borough of Barnet is currently anticipating that one or more of the following contracting authorities (and their statutory successors and organisations created as a result of reorganisation or organisational changes) may wish to join this procurement:
- Barnet PCT
- any GP consortia to be established in the Barnet or adjacent area(s)
- bodies with responsibility for education and/or educational facilities in Barnet and adjacent areas including but not limited to:
- voluntary aided schools (and their governing bodies);
- academies established or to be established within Barnet and adjacent areas;
- Diocesan authorities and trustees
- Third Sector bodies.

The contracting authority wishes to discuss with potential providers a range of delivery options for the services. Potential providers will be expected to consider a range of delivery options, including companies limited by shares/guarantees, LLPs or other emerging models. Given the aspirations of the Authority for the partnership, as part of the dialogue process, tenderers may also be requested to consider growth models for the partnership with the view to grow it on an incremental basis (at the discretion of the Authority).