Amazon Business have won what’s thought to be their first major public sector supply deal with YPO (Yorkshire Purchasing Organistion).
The five year deal will see Amazon supply a digital marketplace for Education, Local Government, Emergency Services, Social Care Sectors and all other public sector organisations that use YPO to source supplies from. Covering more than a dozen local authorities, the deal will be run through Amazon Business which means any merchants who sell on Amazon will have the chance to supply local authorities in the North of England.
“YPO wish to be able to offer an extended range of products that education providers will procure in a market where the curriculum element alone amounts to approximately 1 000 000 000 GBP p.a. and where YPO currently have approximately 10 % of that market. The education sector in the UK comprises 30 000 schools and the current level of YPO transactions is around 500 000 per annum.”
The voluntary disclosure notice posted by the YPO states that Amazon were the only company to put forward a viable expression of interest in winning the contract, although with only six weeks between the initial Prior information notice and the contract being awarded, plus the terms required, it would seem likely that Amazon was the defacto choice anyway. The requirements were pretty much a description of Amazon Business:
- Single point of access for suppliers and customers,
- Clarity of customer order, payment, fulfilment, and returns options,
- A diverse range of products which includes but is not restricted to curriculum resources,
- Management of procurement authorisation levels,
- Comprehensive cyber security.
“The Authority has only received one compliant expression of interest. In consequence YPO intend entering into a contract governed by the Concessions Contract Regulations 2016.
YPO believes that the proposed contractor, being an established mature B2B marketplace provider with a range offering of over 1 000 000 products from thousands of sources, is the only viable contractor currently operating in the market.”
The size of the procurement contract is between £400 and £600 million. If you’re not already selling through Amazon Business and offering the features to business customers then it may well be time to do so. If you want a slice of public sector procurement than getting your products already listed on Amazon visible through Amazon Business should be a priority – it costs nothing and certainly it’s your best and certainly easiest way to make your products available to public sector bodies in the Yorkshire area.
