GPS opens door to £3bn worth of potential PSN activity

The Government Procurement Service (GPS) has issued the first tender notice for services relating to the Public Services Network (PSN) Programme, which could be worth as much as £3bn over the next two years.

The news means GPS - the new name for Buying Solutions - is paving the way for the roll out of multiple PSNs by looking to buy telecommunications connectivity services to underpin PSN networks and infrastructure.

The services are in more than 40 categories, including data transmission, wide area networks, security, helpdesk, hardware integration, switch or router software packages and network hubs.

The PSN concept is a network of networks in which regions or sub-regions will commission networks for their local needs, with the first claimed to be up and running being announced this week.

GPS is expected to announce additional procurements for PSN services some of which will replace two existing GPS framework agreements that expire shortly - Telecom Networks and Mobile Solutions (II).

The new framework agreement could reportedly be worth between £500m and £3bn over the two years that it lasts, and will come with options to extend for two further terms of one year. Agreed contracts could run for up to five years.

In 2010-11, GPS managed £7.6bn of customer spend through its procurement arrangements and services, working with 14,500 organisations in central government, health, local government, devolved administrations, education and the not-for-profit sector.