Last week the Cabinet Office revealed which 12 suppliers have made it onto the Public Services Network (PSN) Connectivity Framework. The framework is designed to make it quicker and easier for public sector organisations to procure connectivity services (LAN, WAN etc) to approved PSN standards, enabling the creation of a public sector ‘network of networks’, or PSN. The two-year framework, which has two one-year extension options, is valued at £500m to £3bn according to the original tender. A second PSN framework, for Services, is due to be awarded within a couple of months.
The lucky 12 on the Connectivity Framework, in the order they were announced, are: Virgin Media Business, Logicalis, BT, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Level 3 (formerly Global Crossing), Capita Business Services, Updata, Fujitsu, MDNX Enterprise Services, Eircom, Kcom and Thales.
It is of course no surprise to see the UK’s largest network providers – BT, CWW, Level 3, VMB and Kcom - making the cut. Logicalis and SME Updata have also been very vocal in the ‘pre-PSN’ market. Both have existing PSN-style contracts and will be delighted to have secured a place on the framework. Eircom runs Network Northern Ireland, which already connects 320 NI public sector sites in a PSN-style deal. MDNX is a large UK-based managed network services provider with some local government customers, so its success doesn’t come as too much of a surprise either. The more ‘unusual suspects’, in this context, are Capita, Fujitsu and defence-focused Thales but it seems all are keen to grow their public sector infrastructure businesses with the help of partners.
As always with procurement frameworks, the question is how much business will actually be put through it. We expect central government, where the use of PSN standards is mandated, to come under pressure to use the Connectivity framework for procurements. Outside central government, where PSN is not mandated, it is a more open question. But however much use the framework gets, it’s clear that competition for public sector connectivity services is about to hot up with all the suppliers listed keen to increase their market share at the expense of the incumbents – i.e. most notably BT and, to a lesser extent, CWW.
All the suppliers involved are well aware that one of the Government’s aims with PSN is to reduce the cost of network services and in this sense it looks set to be a success. Virgin Media Business, for one, is eager to disrupt the status quo and “set the price in the market”. VMB’s Head of PSN Development, Robert Parker, told us last week that they’d be taking a “simple and aggressive approach to pricing” with a new ‘One government, one customer’ approach launched to coincide with the PSN framework announcement last week.
For more analysis on PSN and the key suppliers in the market subscribers to TechMarketView’s PublicSectorViews research stream should see our recent report The Public Services Network: foundation for change in public sector IT? If you’re not yet a subscriber to our research services and you’d like to know more please email Deborah Seth for details.