Official UK procurement notice
Transparency Notice for extension to Cabinet Office Call Off from Independent Shared Service Centre 2 (ISSC2 Framework)
Authority: Cabinet Office (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis notice signals the intention of the Cabinet Office to make a direct award to Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) to extend the Call-Off Contract held under the ISSC2 Framework for up to an additional 18 months.
The extension is required to secure the continued provision of business-critical back-office operations, including human resources, finance and accounts, payroll and procurement to maintain operational continuity while transitioning services to replacement service providers under the Matrix programme.
The direct award is justified under Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 due to technical constraints and the absence of competition for technical reasons, as an interim supplier would cause severe technical incompatibility, service disruption, and substantial duplication of costs.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 2 Oct 2026, 17:07 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Oct 2026, 17:07 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-093554- Latest notice
- Transparency notice (UK5)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07802eFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Technical Reasons; Additional Repeat Extension Partial Replacement
- Published justification
Single supplier - technical reasons:
The back-office operations rely on the legacy Single Operating Platform (SOP). The highly complex architecture and proprietary systems managed by SSCL mean no alternative supplier can step in for an interim period without causing severe operational disruption to payroll, HR, and financial administration.
Additional or repeat goods, services or works - extension or partial replacement:
This extension provides additional continuity of identical services following the original 2013 competitive procurement, where switching to an interim supplier before the Matrix go-live would cause disproportionate technical difficulty and substantial duplication of costs.
- Risks
Risk of additional technical or operational delays in the full implementation, cutover, or go-live of the replacement Matrix solution beyond the target 18-month transition window, necessitating an additional short-term extension or phased tapering to ensure uninterrupted operational continuity.
Risk of unexpected complex exit dependencies, data migration bottlenecks, or technical interface failures arising between the legacy Single Operating Platform (SOP) architecture and replacement systems during parallel running, cutover, or decommissioning phases.
Risk of unexpected operational or cyber-security incidents affecting critical shared services (including civil service payroll, financial processing, and grant administration) during transition, requiring emergency adjustments to resource capacity, technical support levels, or the transition timetable.
Notice history
2 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 2 Oct 2026- Transparency notice published2 Oct 2026, 17:07 BSTUK5
- Contract signature expected1 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared Services Connected LimitedTransparency Notice for extension to Cabinet Office Call Off from Independent Shared Service Centre 2 (ISSC2 Framework) Cabinet Office1 May 2027 – 31 Oct 2028 | £22,918,000 | — | Standstill |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Shared Services Connected LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender