The Office of Government Procurement, a Division of my Department, acts as a Central Purchasing Body, aggregating the States purchasing power and establishing Framework Agreements for a range of commodities including ICT goods and services.

The establishment of a national level framework is a significant undertaking. OGP Framework Agreements are established based on public sector bodies needs and market capabilities and are a key instrument in delivering value for money, promoting SME access to Government contracts as well as incorporating horizontal policy considerations.

Since its establishment in 2014 OGP has gained significant experience in establishing national level Framework Agreements. OGP takes a diligent and disciplined approach to each and every Framework with Frameworks taking up to 12 months to put in place.

OGP is supported in its work by key public sector bodies, subject matter experts and the Chief State Solicitor’s Office. In each case, the relevant risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies are carefully considered. All Framework Agreements commence with a pre-market engagement, which informs the market of OGP’s intentions as well as informing OGP of the market’s capabilities and developments.

Following publication of the tender, OGP typically receives feedback from interested parties relating to the design of the competition. Such feedback is dealt with on a case by case basis, including assessing the potential impact to the tender.

In respect of preparing the tender for the Framework for the renewal of Microsoft Licences, Solutions and Associated Services, OGP adhered to its standard, detailed and disciplined approach over an eight (8) month period including:

• engaging with the market, through a structured, extensive and comprehensive pre-market consultation process, which seeks the market’s view with defining the scope, structure, and content of the tender;

• reviewing the operation of the existing framework and obtaining relevant input from subject matter experts across the public service to improve the scope, specification and features;

• obtaining relevant market-specific commercial advice from IT market analysts and industry experts;

• obtaining legal advice from the CSSO; and

• as part of OGP’s governance process, conducting a review of the relevant risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies before final approval to publish.