DWP Call Off Order Form (COOF) from the [Independent Shared Service Centre Two (ISSC2 Framework Agreement)]

Contracts

• Shared Services Connected Limited

  Signed

  1 Nov 2013

  Value

  £403,702,858

  Period

  24 Apr 2025 – 31 Oct 2028

  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 3 years to expire on 31 October 2028 to enable exit from the current solution and transition to the new arrangements (however it is anticipated that the provision of the services will taper down during the currency of the extension period and cease prior to this date). In addition to the modification to the COOF term, the following modifications have been made: • Revisions to the Exit Schedule to accommodate the phased approach to exit and transition to the replacement contractor(s) in alignment with the Shared Services for Government (SSfG) Strategy; • 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, in part to facilitate the re-procurement exercises; and • New governance arrangements to align to the Synergy Cluster approach and to interface with the new ERP/SI and (eventual) BPS providers., 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 Synergy 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 Synergy 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 implementation of the Synergy Cluster arrangements including the phased exit from the incumbent solution provided by SSCL to align to the cluster and split technology and business service approach, that include the Authority, means that new shared services will not be procured and associated systems and solutions will not be fully implemented before the Authority's COOF with SSCL expire by 31 October 2025. The Synergy Cluster considered a number of options to secure the continued provision of the business critical services. These services are dependent on a bespoke operating platform, the SOP, which incorporates proprietary material and interfaces with numerous other systems within the respective Synergy Cluster members' IT environments. Which 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 (pending finalisation of the live re-procurements) 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 providers procured via the current procurements. 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 Synergy Cluster for the Authority. As described above, the Synergy Cluster has finalised the technology re-procurement and is currently procuring the business process services that will implement the SSfG Strategy vision. It is anticipated that the incumbent services provided under the COOF will transition to these new arrangements before the expiry of the extended COOF. i.e. on or by 31st Oct 2028 with a ramp down of incumbent services during this period. The value of the modification does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract.