Assistive Technology & Telecare Purchasing

The Consortium has offered members access to the procurement of Community Alarm equipment for over 14 years. The latest arrangement was to replace a single preferred partner agreement offered in partnership with Tunstall Ltd that expired in September 2004.

A key priority for the renewal process was to enable an agreement to be delivered that would allow members to procure from a selected partner without the need for further competitive selection. This would enable member organisations to contribute to the procurement efficiency agenda and allow cost effective procurement decisions to be made with minimum effort.

During the course of the last agreement spend by members had reached £5m per annum. To support the key priority for the renewal process and to reflect the amount of spend likely to be routed through the partnership it was imperative that the renewal was managed via an open tender procedure through the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

By following the European Procurement Directives the Consortium was immediately offering a route for its members to procure direct from an appointed supplier without the need for a competitive selection process of their own.

Any Consortium member who has a budget allocated to invest in their Community Alarm infrastructure and would like to do so as efficiently as possible should consider the Community Alarms Preferred Partnership Solution.

The appointed organisations have undergone a rigorous selection process following European Procurement Directives. As a result of the selection process members are free to access the products and services of any of the organisation directly and need not undertake a mini-competition with the selected suppliers.