UK government names suppliers on £3.5bn contact centre, shared services, and outsourcing framework

The usual suspects

The commercial wing of the UK government has named the winners on a £3.5bn framework to provide public-sector contact centres, including enterprise and infrastructure software to support them.

Reading like a rogues' gallery of repeat offenders, the list features Capita, G4S, Serco, and Accenture, which take their place on a framework designed to provide "outsourced contact centre services, shared services and operational business process services," according to a tender document from the Crown Commercial Service.

The framework is set to be used by the UK's central government and wider public-sector organisations, including local authorities, the NHS, non-departmental government bodies, and police, as well as third-sector organisations such as charities.

The deal is split into two lots: one for contact centres, worth up to £1.5bn, and a second for business services, worth up to £2bn.

Full list of winners

• NCO Europe, lot 1
• Go Centric, lot 1
• Teleperformance, lot 1
• Ventrica, lot 1
• Hinduja Global Solutions, lot 1
• Arvato, lot 1 and 2
• Sitel, lot 1
• Shared Services Connected, lot 1 and 2
• TTEC UK Solutions, lot 1
• Capita Business Services, lot 1 and 2
• Serco, lot 1 and 2
• G4S Facilities Management, lot 1
• Charles Novacroft Direct, lot 1
• The Contact Company, lot 1
• ResQ, lot 1
• Accenture, lot 2
• Liberata, lot 2
• NHS Shared Business Services, lot 2

The procurement dates back to a prior information notice published October 2019 while the UK was still formally part of the EU. That document signalled that total spending through the framework might be as much as £5bn and said a contract notice would be available in August 2020.

In fact, the contract notice did not appear until April 2021 with the maximum on offer shaved to £3.5bn.

Outsourcing on this scale has proved a tricky business in government. In 2006, Accenture walked away from a £2bn NHS deal as part of the disastrous National Programme for IT. Capita-run GP back-office services have been dubbed an "unmitigated disaster." Serco bagged a £322m contract for the NHS Test and Trace pandemic response but struggled to share data with local authorities. Meanwhile, G4S and Serco were involved in a prisoner tagging scheme blasted as a "catastrophic waste of public money" by MPs.

Still, we're sure this time it will be different, eh readers? ®