The public sector retail market in England and Wales is worth an estimated £960 million, according to the Crown Commercial Service.

The CCS is in the process of establishing a framework agreement for the supply of water, wastewater and ancillary services to a wide range of public sector organisations when the market opens for competition in April 2017.

The duration of the Framework Agreement is for a three year period with an option to extend for one year.

The Framework Agreement was tendered in three separate Lots.

• Lot 1 Water Supply and Sewerage Services (£600 million)
• Lot 2 Ancillary Services (£30 million) and
• Lot 3 One Stop Shop.

The CCS said the framework agreement would provide a wide range of benefits to potential users, including:

• greater degree of control and transparency of pricing;
• new connections and site-works;
• metering;
• demand side management and innovations delivering water conservation measures;
• Automatic Meter Reading;
• Water reduction/management advice and guidance and implementation of recommendations (which could include sourcing of third- party services/technology

The One Stop Shop Lot involves the provision of a managed service to provide a combination of the Services outlined in both Lot 1 and Lot 2.

The CCS has been working with a number of other organisations to develop the framework agreement, including YPO, ESPO, NEPO, West Mercia Energy and The Energy Consortium. The Ministry of Defence is also part of this working group.

An online customer survey conducted by the CCS last year to establish the likely level of interest attracted 185 responses - 99% of whom said they would use a framework if available. Top five quality criteria identified by the survey were:

• Obtaining best price
• Accurate billing/
• Less estimated readings
• Ensuring compliance with procurement rules
• Supply resilience
• Customer service

89% of respondents said they would also like access to independent ancillary service providers with the option for a shared savings approach.