Cabinet Office tenders for £904m print services contract Nov 30, 2011 14:00 by Roy Hamilton
The Cabinet Office has put out a tender for a print services contract worth between £704 million and £904 million over four years. It is calling for firms to supply multifunction devices with printer ink and toner cartridges, managed print services and print audit services under the Government Procurement Services’s print framework agreement.
The new Framework Agreements are targeted at two different segments of the market. The first are small customers with “quite simple requirements”, such as print, copy, scan and fax. The second group covers larger customers with more complex requirements, such as independent advice and networked/managed print solutions up to and including full outsourcing.
Covered by the single framework will be central government departments and agencies, non-departmental public bodies, devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, NHS bodies, educational establishments, the emergency services and local authorities.
According to the tender notice, the contract is split into four lots. Lot one involves the supply and delivery of a limited offering of individual devices with a standard configuration available from a single supplier. This will cover mono and colour-capable MFDs, all with standard network interfaces, as well as consumables including toner cartridges and staples, but not paper.
The second lot is for the supply and delivery of a wider offering of devices and solutions across the supplier’s range that would be available from a number of sources.
Lot three involves the provision of the full range of Managed Print Services up to and including fully outsourced solutions. The final lot is for the provision of independent print audits that would be available from a number of suppliers.
Earlier this month, Xerox announced a major managed print service deal with British Airways. The five-year agreement will see the printing firm handle the airline’s mail-handling operation by managing the delivery of internal and external post, while also speeding up the production of in-flight printed materials.
Posted by Michael Derges
