Crown Commercial Service and central purchasing bodies

A central purchasing body is a public organisation that awards contracts, frameworks or dynamic markets for other buyers to use, or that buys goods and sells them on to public bodies. Crown Commercial Service, an arm of the Cabinet Office, is the general purpose one for the United Kingdom, and the closest equivalent of the French UGAP.

How it works

There are two models. In the wholesale model the body buys and resells: NHS Supply Chain does this for hospital consumables and equipment. In the intermediary model, far more common here, it awards framework agreements and dynamic markets that other contracting authorities then use, either by direct award against the framework prices or by running a mini-competition among the appointed suppliers.

Buying through such an arrangement discharges the buyer's own advertising and competition duties: it does not have to run a procurement of its own, which is why so much routine public spending flows this way.

Besides Crown Commercial Service, the landscape includes ESPO, YPO and other local authority consortia in England, Scotland Excel and the Scottish Government's national frameworks, the Welsh Government's national contracts, the Procurement and Logistics Service in Northern Ireland, and sector bodies for health, education and blue light services. In Ireland the Office of Government Procurement puts in place national frameworks for goods, services and works, with sectoral bodies for health and education.

Their competitions are large and are advertised like any other above-threshold procurement, on Find a Tender or eTenders, usually months before the current arrangement expires. Frameworks normally run for up to four years; a dynamic market, unlike the old dynamic purchasing systems, stays open so new suppliers can apply to join at any time.

What it means for a bidder

Central purchasing bodies cut both ways. They concentrate a large share of routine spending, so a supplier absent from the main frameworks loses access to buyers who no longer tender for themselves. Equally, winning a place on one opens a national customer base in a single competition.

These competitions are demanding: national coverage, logistics, financial standing, service levels and reporting. An SME normally gets in through a regional or specialist lot, as part of a consortium, or as a subcontractor or authorised reseller of an appointed supplier. Dynamic markets are the easier door, because you can apply whenever you are ready rather than waiting years.

Track the expiry dates of the frameworks that matter to you, and remember that a place on one is a licence to compete, not an order book: most call-offs still go through a mini-competition you have to win.

Example

A regional school furniture manufacturer notices that the academies in its county now buy through a national framework. It finds the renewal notice on Find a Tender, published a year before expiry and divided into lots by product family. It bids for the tables and chairs lot with a manufacturer from a neighbouring county, wins a place, and is then invited to the mini-competitions run by individual schools and trusts.

Frequently asked questions

Must a public body use Crown Commercial Service?

No. Central government departments are pushed towards the common goods and services frameworks, but for most buyers using a central purchasing body is an option, not an obligation.

How do I become a supplier?

By winning a place in one of its published competitions. There is no separate approved list outside the procurements it runs, so watch the notices and prepare well in advance.

Can the buyer negotiate the framework price?

Often yes, at mini-competition stage, where suppliers price the specific requirement. Direct awards use the framework rates as they stand.

Related terms

• Contracting authority and utility
• Framework agreement
• Call-off orders under a framework
• Find a Tender, the OJEU and TED
• Public procurement (commande publique)

Scoutee tracks framework notices published by Crown Commercial Service and the other main purchasing bodies.