Cabinet Office Call Off from Independent Shared Service Centre 2 (ISSC2 Framework)

Contracts

• Contract 051686-2025-C0019-1

  Signed

  1 Nov 2013

  Value

  £116,827,000

  Period

  1 Nov 2025 – 30 Apr 2027

  Status

  active

  • Change The COOF has been modified pursuant to regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("PCR 2015") and this notice is published for transparency purposes. The current COOF with SSCL is due to expire by 31 October 2025 which means business critical services including the capacity to make payments to employees (i.e. payroll) and suppliers would cease. i.e. the business as usual shared business support services unless continued provision could be secured. The term of the COOF is therefore being extended by a period of up to 18 months to 30 April 2027 to enable exit from the current solution and transition to the new arrangements. In addition to the modification to the COOF term, the following modifications have been made: -Revisions to the Exit Schedule to accommodate the approach to exit and transition to the replacement solution. -Reductions to Unit Prices, fixed indexation, streamlined volume banding and changes to the manner in which minimum purchase volumes will be calculated; -Enhanced financial transparency obligations; -An agile change management process to facilitate commissioning of minor changes; -Provision for payment of certain stranded costs., Need for additional works, services or supplies by the original contractor/concessionaire: In accordance with the published Shared Services for Government (SSfG) Strategy, the Authority is part of the Matrix Cluster. This SSfG Strategy has been progressing as planned since its launch in 2021. Due to collaborative working across the Civil Service, 17 departments and over 100 arms-length bodies have grouped together in 5 clusters, including the Matrix Cluster, to transform the back-office functions of Government. The SSfG will reform and modernise services leading to smarter, cheaper, faster systems across the 5 clusters. As part of the strategy the technology and business process service elements will be split, in contrast to the current single supplier solution. The complexity of the implementation of the Matrix Cluster arrangements across multiple departments and the Authority's exit from the incumbent solution provided by SSCL to align to the cluster and split technology and business service approach, means that new shared service systems and solutions will not be fully implemented before the Authority's COOF with SSCL expire in 31 October 2025. Procurements for the replacement ERP and SI have already taken place, and business services will be brought in house. An extension is required to the existing arrangements because a change of contractor cannot be made for economic or technical reasons and any change would cause significant inconvenience or duplication of costs for a duration of 18 months. The increase in price does not exceed 50% of the original contract value. The business critical services currently provided by SSCL are dependent on a bespoke operating platform, which incorporates proprietary material and interfaces with numerous other systems. This would need to be re-procured/ replicated in any interim solution and which would necessitate at least some continued reliance on the incumbent supplier, SSCL. The time taken to procure an interim, temporary solution would result in significant duplicative and nugatory cost. There would be insufficient time to exit the SSCL solution, move to the new interim solution and then transition to the solution of the new providers where procurement has already concluded. A change in supplier without the lengthy handover period would risk the failure in the delivery of the shared business support services which provide payments to employees (i.e. payroll) and suppliers. Therefore, an extension to the COOF is essential for safeguarding the uninterrupted continuation of the shared business support services and critical operational arrangements, whilst providing the foundation for a safe transition to new and improved shared services under the Matrix Cluster for the Authority.