Base Commercial Case

Base Commercial Case

[This section details the commercial strategy for the project. It demonstrates that the proposed deal is viable, that it will be procured in a fair and compliant manner, and that it represents a sustainable and well-structured arrangement for the council.]

1. Procurement

[Describe the planned procurement route to the market. This should be developed in close collaboration with your corporate procurement and legal teams. As part of the preliminary market engagement process, you should also engage with other local authorities, e.g. to understand supplier performance, pricing, and explore opportunities for collaborative procurement. Past projects suggest that early engagement with these internal experts is a critical success factor.

• Chosen procurement route: State the intended route. e.g. A framework, a Dynamic Market (DM), a competitive tendering procedure, or a variation to an existing contract. Justify why the route is the most appropriate for this project.
• Key procurement milestones: Provide an indicative timeline for the procurement process, from issuing the brief to contract award.
• Market engagement:Describe any preliminary market engagement undertaken. Past projects consistently found that early, informal discussions with potential suppliers were invaluable for:
• Shaping the brief: Understanding what is technically possible and commercially viable.
• Budgeting: Getting a more realistic sense of likely costs before the formal process begins.
• Understanding the competitive landscape: Understanding the number and type of suppliers available, and any forecast or imminent changes to the market’s structure.

2. Proposed Commercial Arrangement

[Describe the key elements of the proposed ‘deal’ with the supplier(s). This section should demonstrate that you have considered the long-term sustainability of the arrangement.

• Contract length: State the proposed term of the agreement (e.g. a 1-year contract, a 3-year contract with break clauses). Justify the length. Is it a short-term contract to trial and test an innovative idea, or a longer-term investment intended to become a core part of your service delivery?
• Payment model: How will the supplier be paid? (e.g. Fixed price for initial build, annual subscription for licence and support, time and materials for development work).
• Key contractual and service level considerations: What are the most important aspects of the service that need to be contractually defined? 
  
  Past projects suggest focusing on:

• Data ownership: Who owns the data gathered via the platform? How can the council access and export it in a usable format?
• Roles and responsibilities: Be explicit about what the supplier will do versus what your in-house team will do (e.g. who is responsible for content creation, configuration changes, user support?).
• Key performance indicators (KPIs): What are the measurable indicators of a successful service? (e.g. 99.9% platform uptime, response to critical technical issues within 4 hours).
• Exit strategy: What happens at the end of the contract? How would you migrate to a new supplier if needed? Is there a clear process for data handover and service decommissioning?]

3. Supplier selection (for Full Business Case only)

[Once a procurement process has been completed, this section provides the justification for selecting the chosen supplier. To ensure transparency and demonstrate a robust process, it is best practice to provide a summary of the procurement evaluation. 

This could include: 

• The key evaluation criteria (e.g. Quality, Cost, Technical Skill, Social Value). 
• The weighting given to each criterion. 
• Anonymised scores of the shortlisted bidders against the criteria to show how the winning supplier was selected.

4. Social value considerations

[Explain how the procurement will meet the requirements of the Social Value Act. How will this contract contribute to the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the local area? 

Examples from previous projects include suppliers committing to:

• Hiring local people or interns
• Working with local community groups or schools
• Providing their service at a reduced rate for local VCSE organisations
• Spending with local vendors
• Sustainable procurement (suppliers with net zero commitments if applicable)
• Circular economy (promoting the reuse of digital infrastructure)
• Upskilling council staff

5. Conflicts of interest

[In this section, provide assurance that the project will manage conflicts of interest. Confirm that this will include requiring declarations from all key project and evaluation staff, maintaining a formal register of interests, and a clear process for mitigating identified conflicts.]