if you are unable to view this email please click here to view online.

Issue 8 - 9 December 2014

GP Systems of Choice

feature image

Lot 2 Catalogue Live

On 5 November 2014, agreements were signed with 30 suppliers to enter a new GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) framework to provide Additional GP IT Services (Lot 2).

The Lot 2 Catalogue of Services is now live, allowing local organisations to browse the software, hardware and professional services available and place orders under the framework. The catalogue will be regularly updated as new products and services become available. A summary of the products and services which each supplier intends to provide is available on the GPSoC website, however, suppliers may bring new services onto the framework at any time.

The catalogue is administered by the HSCIC, however, the content is provided and managed by each Lot 2 supplier. The HSCIC does not endorse and, other than as explicitly identified in the GPSoC Lot 2 Catalogue, has not assured or accredited the products and services offered for sale.

‘How to Buy’ guidance has been published alongside the catalogue, to support local organisations ordering services. Lot 2 services will be funded by the local organisations and ordered through a Call Off Agreement, allowing ordering parties to negotiate some of the contract terms relating to service delivery. A template Lot 2 Call Off Agreement and a generic version of the executed Lot 2 Framework Agreement are available on the GPSoC website.

Expiry of old arrangements and transition to Lot 2

The Call Off agreements supporting additional services purchased via the previous GPSoC arrangements, using a Local Schedule A(i), are currently due to expire on 31 December 2014.  We are in the process of putting in place an additional extension period to these arrangements to the end of January 2015, to provide additional time for the transition to an alternative contract. To ensure continuity of service provision, local organisations (customers) must enter into new arrangements before the current arrangements expire. If local organisations wish to terminate current service provision, no alternative arrangements are required.

Where the additional services provided under the old GPSoC contract are also available on the newly published GPSoC Lot 2 Catalogue, customers may choose to use the Lot 2 framework as the alternative contract mechanism. Please see the How to Buy Guide for information about ordering Lot 2 services.

When selecting any product or service from the Lot 2 Catalogue, please note the following:

  • assessment of Lot 2 suppliers throughout the selection process should always be as fair and transparent as possible;
  • the customer only needs to score against the relevant criteria;
  • the customer must record its decision and justification for appointing the chosen supplier as the provider of services in an internal written report;
  • purchasing services through the Lot 2 framework remains subject to the customer’s local approvals process at all times; and
  • the customer must take responsibility for its own decisions and pay due regard to relevant procurement law at all times.

Please direct all queries regarding the above to gpsoc@hscic.gov.uk