INDEPENDENT COMMERCIAL & TECHNICAL ADVISORY

ERP & Line-of-Business Procurement Advisory

ERP & Line-of-Business Procurement Advisory provides independent, vendor-agnostic advisory for high-stakes council procurements. We define requirements, author Crown Commercial Service framework specifications, and govern vendor migrations across Core ERP, Social Care, Revenues & Benefits, and Housing/Planning.

AVOIDING VENDOR LOCK-IN

Why Traditional Council Software Procurement Fails

Local authorities frequently find themselves held hostage by legacy software vendors charging exorbitant annual maintenance fees for obsolete software. When procurement cycles arrive, councils are often outmatched by aggressive supplier sales tactics, resulting in vague contracts, scope creep, and multi-year implementation delays.

Civic Shift represents the council's interest exclusively. We act as your independent commercial and architectural client-side advisor—authoring rigorous Statements of Requirements (SoR) on Crown Commercial Service (CCS) G-Cloud 14 and Digital Outcomes & Specialists (DOS) frameworks, running competitive tender evaluations, and enforcing milestone-driven contracts that hold software vendors accountable.

Commercial Procurement Deliverables

  • ✓ Vendor-Neutral Tender Specifications: Outcome-based technical requirements preventing single-supplier bias.
  • ✓ CCS Framework Procurement: Compliant procurement execution via G-Cloud 14 and DOS.
  • ✓ Price & License Benchmarking: Robust commercial challenge saving councils hundreds of thousands of pounds.
  • ✓ Migration & Go-Live Governance: End-to-end client-side assurance de-risking statutory data cutovers.
ENGAGEMENT LEVELS

Procurement Advisory Delivery Tiers

Bronze Level
Legacy Contract & Market Diagnostic

In-depth review of existing legacy software contracts, expiry dates, break clauses, and market alternatives.

  • ✓ Legacy software contract & license audit
  • ✓ Commercial lock-in & penalty analysis
  • ✓ Market capability & supplier scan
  • ✓ Procurement route recommendation
Silver Level
Tender Specification & Architecture Blueprint

Authoring comprehensive, outcome-based Statement of Requirements (SoR) and technical architecture standards for CCS framework tender.

  • ✓ Outcome-based Statement of Requirements
  • ✓ Non-functional & integration criteria
  • ✓ Evaluation scoring methodology
  • ✓ Vendor demonstration scripts
Gold Level
Full CCS Framework Procurement & Negotiation

End-to-end procurement management, vendor tender moderation, commercial negotiations, and contract drafting with S151 Officer alignment.

  • ✓ End-to-end tender process execution
  • ✓ Commercial negotiation & price benchmarking
  • ✓ Legal SLA & performance metrics drafting
  • ✓ Cabinet procurement approval brief
★ Platinum Level
Full Ownership of Problem (Tender Award to Go-Live)

Complete practice accountability for delivering the entire replacement lifecycle from market tender through migration, cutover, and final vendor decommissioning.

  • ✓ Total accountability from award to Go-Live
  • ✓ Embedded Lead Procurement & Implementation Director
  • ✓ Supplier penalty & milestone enforcement
  • ✓ Guaranteed statutory continuity at cutover