In summary, both a DPS and a framework acts as a kind of approved list. It means suppliers are part of a smaller pool of competitors, who are invited to bid for contract opportunities when they arise. This makes it quite attractive to become part of a DPS or framework, as you’ll likely see more opportunities coming your way, however both offer no guarantee of any contracts.

We’re not sure whether this increase in DPS and framework applications represents a trend in public sector buyer behaviour, or represents our clients’ appetites this last year. Regardless, it’s had two major effects on our review figures:

1. It’s reduced the overall contract values we have secured for our customers. Winning a tender for a contract makes it easy to work out the value won for our clients. However, it’s not as simple for frameworks and DPSs. Whilst clients have a significantly greater chance of winning contracts of value thanks to their position on frameworks and DPSs, there is no guarantee of any contracts being awarded, and so we don’t estimate a proportionate contract value for the purposes of our review. Rather, we mark all wins for framework and DPS applications as a £0 contract value.
2. Secondly, unlike framework applications or tenders for contracts, DPS applications specifically tend to be easier to achieve success. The application process is less laborious than your standard tender. We are sure that the increased number of DPS applications last year helped our success rate to skyrocket.

Let’s take a look at the numbers.