CCS Seeks To Improve Contracts Finder

The government wants to improve its Contracts Finder online tool following the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) comments that it is in urgent need of an update.

The tool provides a single location for contracts and public procurement opportunities to be advertised.

Since it was launched in 2011, the government says it has been relatively successful, with 7000 opportunities advertised and 166,000 weekly page views.

However, CCS has called for a system that is more intuitive and easy to use in order to continue providing end users with a product that is appropriate.

A 7-week “discovery phase” will be held where users can give feedback about the current system, including its complexities and issues that may surround decommissioning the legacy systems and integration of a new service.

CCS plans to procure via the Digital Services Framework agreement going forward.

Improved System Aimed At The User

It claims the key points of the Contracts Finder redevelopment programme include a system more geared towards end-user needs and continues to enable buyers to publish procurement pipelines, opportunities, tenders and contract documents.

It also hopes to improve public perception by demonstrating a real change in the way the government procures across a number of sectors and organisations.

CSS also says the solution will involve a good number of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and open contracting agendas, as well as a mechanism to produce open data about government processes for transparency purposes.

By the end of the discovery phase, it is hoped that a documented analysis that identifies what users will want from a new system will have been gained in order to implement an improved service.

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