--- title: "Professional Services Business Process Outsourcing" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "BRITISH COUNCIL" published: "2021-12-03" --- # Professional Services Business Process Outsourcing Buyer: BRITISH COUNCIL Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7.json) ## Summary The British Council has initiated a planned procurement process for Professional Services Business Process Outsourcing, targeting the financial and insurance services sector, as well as IT and business services. This pre-procurement exercise aims to evaluate outsourcing opportunities for key functions including human resources, finance, procurement, and digital & technology, addressing the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The deadline for expressing interest in this preliminary invitation for market engagement is not specified, but potential suppliers are encouraged to register on the British Council's procurement platform for further details. The anticipated annual contract value ranges from £20 million to £40 million, with a contract duration of 7 to 10 years, and the delivery will cover a global requirement with specific operations managed from London, UK. This procurement presents significant opportunities for businesses specialising in outsourced services within the professional services sector. Companies that excel in finance, human resources, technology support, and general consulting are well-suited to compete for this contract. As the British Council seeks to streamline its operations and enhance service delivery through third-party service providers, aligned firms can expect to gain valuable contracts and establish long-term partnerships within this extensive organisational framework serving over 10,000 employees globally. ## Notice The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been felt by businesses across the globe. British Council is not immune to this impact and needs to reduce costs, streamline processes, use more digital tools, and introduce much greater standardisation. A key lever being explored for transformation of the professional services support functions, is greater use of third-party services (outsourcing) to leverage other organisations' capabilities.Currently, four key global professional services functions (including their corresponding operations delivered from the shared service centre in India) have been prioritised to explore the outsourcing opportunity. These include the human resources (HR), finance, procurement and digital and technology (IT services). ### Lot Information Lot 1 This Pre-Procurement Early Market Engagement exercise that the British Council is conducting is focussed on informing internal and external assurance and decision making processes in respect to launching a formal tender for outsourcing of select business processes or services from the 4 key professionals workstreams (HR, Finance, Procurement and Digital & Technology) as well as to inform consultations with our staff and trade unions before any final decisions on outsourcing are made. These professional services support 10,000+ British Council employees spread across 100+ countries. Through this procurement exercise, an early engagement with the market is envisaged to provide a brief overview on various aspects of these workstreams along with an initial view of the potential in-scope areas. The purpose of articulating these requirements to the market is to enable British Council to gain initial supplier awareness, engagement and opinion around market possibilities, risks and issues not previously considered and to inform our procurement strategy. Using this market perspective, we will then take a decision as to whether to proceed to a formal tender process. In the event that a formal tender is launched, it is likely that British Council will conduct a Competitive Dialogue Process in line with Public Contract Regulations 2015. The information below provides a brief overview on various aspects of these workstreams and further detailed information could be accessed on the In-tend site, refer section II.2.14.Overview of the workstreams:Human Resources (HR): Human Resources currently incorporates approximately 300 FTEs and operates with a mix of centralised (including shared services) and regional/in-country support to the organisation. As part of this anticipated procurement exercise, British Council HR function would seek to onboard a service provider who is fully integrated into the global HR function to enable the function to achieve its strategic objectives.Finance: The finance function is organised across 8 regions, comprising approximately 140 entities with 30 subsidiaries operating alongside our branches; in some countries there is a dual entity structure. The finance function is structured along functional lines, with the aim of embedding the 'three lines of defence' model at its heart, clearly separating the financial control (first line) and risk and assurance (second line) functions, with the aim to ensure the integrity of our results and the strength of our controls. Many regions have clustered finance, with remote delivery and we have a shared service centre operating from India.Procurement: Procurement operations in the British Council cover a wide variety of activity, and covers all areas of operations, from offices, to Exam's delivery and Teaching Centres, and Arts and Culture activities.As a function, Procurement currently incorporates approximately 90+ FTEs and operates in 5 Regions: United Kingdom, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Middle East & Northern Africa (MENA). There are an additional 3 regions (EU, Wider Europe, and Americas) without regional procurement cover. Whilst these 3 regions are subject to the global procurement policy, procurement events are managed within their own organisational structure.Digital and Technology (IT Services): British Council digital and technology function requires the provision of outsourcing and staff augmentation for its global IT support services from a Service Provider who is fully integrated into their global D&T directorate.As a directorate, Digital & Technology currently incorporates approximately 400 FTEs across Digital, Global Information Services (GIS), and Information Governance and Risk Management (IGRM). This headcount is mostly concentrated within the UK, India and Poland.Service Providers should note that this document is for information only and does not commit British Council to launch a formal procurement in the market. Additional information: The annual contract value will be between GBP20m to GBP40m excluding VAT and the contract duration is expected to be 7-10 years ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/030081-2021 | | Notice type | Planning Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | Not specified | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 3 Dec 2021 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 15 Mar 2022 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planned | | Lots status | Planned | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | BRITISH COUNCIL | | Locality | LONDON | | Post town | East London | | Postcode | E20 1JQ | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLI London | | ITL 2 | TLI4 Inner London - East | | ITL 3 | TLI41 Hackney and Newham | | Local authority | Newham | | Electoral ward | Stratford Olympic Park | | Westminster constituency | Stratford and Bow | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 66 - Financial and insurance services - 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support - 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security ### Codes - 66000000 - Financial and insurance services - 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support - 79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security ## Release History - 3 Dec 2021 at 13:15 - Planning - Planning Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/030081-2021 ## Notice URLs - http://www.britishcouncil.org - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/britishcouncil ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02fcf7.json.