Buying through the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework
How to find digital outcome, specialist and user research services on the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework.
You can use the Digital Marketplace to buy digital services through the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework. All public sector organisations can use the Digital Marketplace to find suppliers who can design, build and deliver bespoke digital services using an agile approach.
What you can buy on Digital Outcomes and Specialists
You can use the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework for:
- digital outcomes: to find a team to deliver a digital outcome, such as a new integrated website, strategic delivery programme or an accessibility audit
- digital specialists: to find an individual to deliver a digital outcome, such as a data scientist or developer
- user research studios: to find a physical space in which to conduct user research
- user research participants: to find users with the appropriate characteristics to test your service
For each of these you need to write and publish requirements.
If you need a digital outcome
You need to write ‘requirements’ to tell suppliers about your situation or problem and they’ll propose a solution that meets your needs.
Depending on your situation, you may need a team of specialists with:
- different skills, for example a user researcher, a content designer and a developer
- the same skills, for example 3 user researchers
To get the outcome you need, a supplier may suggest a team of specialists to work on different projects in your programme. Using the information in your requirements, suppliers will be able to suggest the:
- minimum number of people they think you need straightaway
- maximum number of people they think you may need in the future
If you need a digital specialist
You can only use the Digital Marketplace to find a specialist for a specific piece of work.
You need to write ‘requirements’ to describe the piece of work and ask suppliers to provide a specialist. Suppliers have responsibility and liability for the work done by their specialists.
How to find a digital specialist
If you need to find user research participants
You’ll need to tell suppliers in your requirements about the types of participants you want to test your service with. They’ll then tell you if they can meet your needs and how much it will cost.
How to find user research participants
If you need a user research studio
You’ll need to tell suppliers what facilities you need and when. They’ll then tell you if they can meet your needs and how much it will cost.
How to hire user research studios
Who the suppliers are
All Digital Outcomes and Specialists suppliers have:
- confirmed information about their company and the way they work
- added information about the services that they offer
A framework is an agreement between suppliers and government and all suppliers agree to the same terms when they apply.
Read about how suppliers have been evaluated.
Deciding the employment status of suppliers and specialists
Employment status for tax purposes is whether a worker is employed or self-employed. It’s used to determine the taxes the worker and client need to pay.
Off-payroll working rules (IR35) can apply if a worker (sometimes known as a contractor) provides their services through their own limited company or another type of intermediary to the client.
As the buyer, when buying a supply of resource, you are the client from the perspective of the worker and are responsible for determining if off-payroll working rules apply.
If the rules apply, tax and National Insurance contributions must be deducted from fees and paid to HMRC.
If you are also the fee-payer and the off-payroll working rules apply, you will need to deduct and pay Income Tax and National Insurance contributions to HMRC.
Who the rules apply to
Off-payroll working rules will apply if you are buying a supply of resource. If you are buying a fully contracted out service, the off-payroll rules will not apply.
A resource requirement is one where the supplier provides:
- delivery teams to produce deliverable increments in a buyer-led agile development
- an individual or team of individuals to work alongside buyer staff and are directed at an operational level by the buyer
A contracted out service is one where:
- the supplier takes full responsibility for delivering the outcome and the risk of non-delivery sits with the supplier
- the workers are not embedded within your organisation but are engaged, directed and controlled entirely by the supplier with no input from you
You need to determine if you are buying a contracted out service or a supply of resource.
Applying the rules
It is your responsibility as the buyer to determine whether the service you are buying represents a supply of a contracted out service or a supply of resource.
The reality of working arrangements should be considered and not just contractual terms.
Your published requirements should clearly state if you are buying a contracted out service or a supply of resource.
More about the difference between a contracted out service and a supply of resource in the HMRC Employment manual
What to do if you engage contractors working through their own limited company
How the off-payroll working rules (IR35) work in the public sector
You can also get advice from your HR department about off-payroll working rules.
When the rules apply
If you are buying through the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework, and have determined that you are buying a supply of resource, you will need to:
- do an IR35 assessment to determine the employment status of the off-payroll worker for that particular contract or piece of work
- tell the supplier what the determination is
You can use HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax service to help you decide if the off-payroll working rules apply.
April 2021 changes to off-payroll working
From 6 April 2021 you need to decide the employment status of every worker who operates through their own intermediary, even if they are provided through an agency.
You should communicate your determination using a Status Determination Statement (SDS).
An SDS must:
- be passed to the worker and the person or organisation you contract with
- give your conclusion and the reasons for coming to it
You must take reasonable care when making a determination.
You’ll also need to:
- make sure you keep detailed records of your employment status determinations, including the reasons for the determination and fees paid
- have processes in place to deal with any disagreements that arise from your determination
Get help on the off-payroll working rules (IR35) with webinars, guidance and resources from HMRC.
If you are also the fee-payer and the off-payroll working rules apply, you will need to deduct and pay tax and National Insurance contributions.
More about April 2021 changes to off-payroll working for clients.
If you need contractors or interim staff
You’ll need to use an employment agency if you want to find people for roles where the person enters into a contract directly with the public sector organisation. The public sector organisation will then be responsible for the outcome of the work, not the supplier.
Find contractors and interim staff through:
- Public Sector Resourcing
- Management Consultancy Framework
- Non Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff
- Management Consultancy Framework Two
How to buy
The buying process is different for user research studio services. Read the user research studios buyers’ guide before you start.
When you buy digital outcomes, digital specialists and user research participants services, you need to:
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Prepare your draft requirements.
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Get approval to buy what you need.
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Write and publish your requirements on the Digital Marketplace. They will be publicly available.
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Answer supplier questions.
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Review and score ‘essential’ and ‘nice-to-have’ skills and experience to create your shortlist.
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Give feedback to suppliers who are not shortlisted.
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Invite shortlisted suppliers to the assessment stage.
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Evaluate written proposals and your chosen additional assessment methods to find the right supplier for your needs.
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Award a contract and give feedback to unsuccessful suppliers.
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Publish the contract on Contracts Finder and update your Digital Marketplace account.
The evaluation process has to be fair, open and transparent. You should be able to demonstrate a clear audit trail, including any questions you’ve answered and any evaluation you’ve made.
1. Prepare your draft requirements
Working with both procurement and technical professionals in your organisation can help you decide on the high-level requirements and how long your project will take.
You should consider the:
- funds you have to buy the service
- user needs
- project’s technical requirements
- size of the project
- stage the project is at
- criteria you’ll base your choice on
Decide on what the ‘essential’ and ‘nice-to-have’ skills and experience are so you can filter supplier responses later. The more specific you can be with these criteria, the easier it will be to find a supplier who meets your needs.
You can talk to suppliers before you start to help you refine your requirements. This is sometimes called early market engagement or pre-tender market engagement (PTME). Most buyers who need a digital outcome do this. You can find a list of Digital Outcomes and Specialists’ suppliers on the Digital Marketplace.
Read more about how to write requirements and set your evaluation criteria for Digital Outcomes and Specialists services.
View published requirements on the Digital Marketplace.
2. Get approval to buy what you need
You must get budget approval before you start the buying process.
If you’re buying for central government, you have to go through the digital and IT spend control process before you publish your requirements on the Digital Marketplace.
If you’re buying for a public sector organisation outside of central government, you must get any internal approval you need.
3. Write and publish your requirements
You’ll be asked to include different information depending on whether you’re buying digital outcomes, digital specialists or user research participant recruitment services. The details you provide will help suppliers decide whether or not to apply and to provide relevant evidence. They’ll also help you shortlist interested suppliers to find those that best meet your needs.
You can write your requirements in draft and come back later to publish them.
Read about writing your requirements for Digital Outcomes and Specialists
4. Answer supplier questions
After you’ve published your requirements, suppliers may want to ask questions about them.
You must:
- post all questions and answers on the Digital Marketplace
- remove any reference to the supplier’s name or any confidential information about the supplier
- give an individual response to each question, even when questions are similar
- answer all questions at least one working day before the closing date for applications to give suppliers time to decide if the work is right for them
- get commercial or legal advice if you don’t think you’ll be able to answer, or haven’t answered, all the questions at least one working day before the closing date for applications
Read more about how to answer supplier questions.
5. Shortlist interested suppliers
After you’ve published your requirements, suppliers will apply to be shortlisted and tell you:
- how they meet your essential and nice-to-have requirements
- when they can start work
- how much the specialist costs (specialist suppliers only)
- how to contact them
You can shortlist the suppliers who:
- meet all the essential skills and experience
- can start work when you need them to
- can work within your budget (specialist suppliers only)
- provide the most nice-to-have skills and experience
- provide the highest-scoring evidence of their skills and experience
More about how to shortlist suppliers.
6. Give feedback to suppliers who are not shortlisted
Tell suppliers if they have not been shortlisted and explain why they didn’t meet the requirements. There are template emails you can use to give feedback to unsuccessful suppliers.
7. Invite shortlisted suppliers to the assessment stage
You can use a range of assessment methods to help you find the supplier that best meets your needs. You must only use the assessment methods you said you’d use when you published your requirements. You don’t have to use all of these methods.
Depending on the type of service you’re buying, you can choose:
- a written proposal
- an interview
- a presentation
- a case study
- a reference
- a work history
- a scenario or test
Read more about assessment methods.
8. Evaluate proposals to find the best supplier for your needs
You must evaluate shortlisted suppliers to find the one that best meets your requirements.
You need to use the methods and criteria you published with your requirements to:
- assess suppliers, for example in an interview or with a written proposal
- score suppliers
You can then award a contract to the supplier with the highest score.
Read about:
How to score
To evaluate consistently, you must mark all questions using the same scoring scheme and apply the relevant weighting for that particular criteria to get a score. Use the scoring template to help you.
Scoring the price
When you score the price, the lower the price, the higher the score.
You can’t change the criteria or their weightings after your requirements are published.
More about how to score.
Keep an audit trail
Document the reasons for awarding scores to each supplier and the reasons for choosing the criteria and weightings. You must be able to explain how you decided which supplier to award the contract to.
Read about how to keep an audit trail.
9. Award a contract and give feedback to unsuccessful suppliers
Once you’ve identified the successful supplier, you must notify all remaining suppliers of your decision at the same time. You can notify suppliers by email.
Notify the successful supplier
Tell the successful supplier you’ll award them a contract.
Read about how to award a contract.
Notify unsuccessful suppliers
Suppliers need to know if and why they weren’t successful so they can plan for other work and improve any future applications they make.
You must:
- tell unsuccessful suppliers that you will not be awarding them a contract
- give feedback explaining why a supplier was unsuccessful, including the advantages of the successful bid compared to the unsuccessful bid
- give the scores of the winning supplier
- give positive feedback where appropriate
- not share details of other unsuccessful suppliers’ scores
- give only the final agreed scores, not individual evaluator scores
What happens if you don’t find the right supplier
You don’t have to award a contract if you can’t find a suitable supplier. You should update your account on the Digital Marketplace to cancel the requirement.
Suppliers will be able to see that the contract wasn’t awarded. You also need to get in touch with all remaining suppliers to give them feedback and tell them:
- you haven’t found a supplier that meets your needs
- you’re not going to award a contract
You can review what you need and then publish new requirements.
10. Publish the contract to Contracts Finder and update your Digital Marketplace account
You must publish details of all completed contracts on Contracts Finder.
You’ll need to sign in to your account first. If you don’t have an account, you’ll need to register as a buyer on Contracts Finder.
You should also update your account on the Digital Marketplace to let suppliers know the contract was awarded.
Managing the contract
Read more about:
Contact Crown Commercial Service if you have any questions about the Digital Marketplace.
Crown Commercial Service
[email protected]
Updates to this page
Published 20 April 2016Last updated 4 June 2021 + show all updates
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Updated links about off-payroll working rules
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Edited to remove note about issuing a Status Determination Statement (SDS) before 6 April 2021.
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This page has been updated to reflect the changes to the off-payroll working rules from 6 April 2021.
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Updated off-payroll working rules section and added April 2021 changes
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Edited to focus on how to buy services and how to score suppliers. Added information about off-payroll working rules, and a new framework for recruiting contractors and interim staff
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The Digital Marketplace support email has change to [email protected].
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Updated to link to the Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 call-off contract.
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Added information about supplier feedback
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Specialists requirements can now be open for 1 or 2 weeks.
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First published.