Commerce Decisions Works With South Tyneside and Gateshead Councils to Support BSF Projects

OXFORD, England, March 27 /PRNewswire/ --     Commerce Decisions, a leading provider of software and services to
support through-life procurement and delivery processes is working with South
Tyneside and Gateshead Councils (STaG) to support the procurement process
behind their multi-million pound investment in schools. This investment is
part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which is the UK
Government's biggest investment in improving schools for over 50 years.

South Tyneside and Gateshead Councils vision is to transform academic and
vocational achievements across the region. The STaG BSF project has ambitious
plans for the schools in their area, aiming at high achievement for all. The
two councils have been successfully working together as a BSF partners for
over three years.

"Through our use of Commerce Decision's AWARD software, we found a tool
that can significantly help local authorities to reach robust and auditable
procurement decisions and to manage any risk of challenge effectively. Its
inherent flexibility allowed us to tailor it easily to match the BSF
Programme processes. With the support of Commerce Decisions we have
configured AWARD to support our programme needs in a comprehensive and
powerful way," commented Pramod Nayak, Deputy Project Director, South
Tyneside and Gateshead Building Schools for the Future. "This project is now
the fastest closing BSF project having taken only 17 months and we have spent
circa 1.5% capex in terms of procurement costs. This is a great result for
both Local Authorities but there is no doubt that this would not have been
possible without AWARD."

The AWARD software is a collaborative web-based software solution
designed specifically to support the strategic procurement process from
Request for Information preparation, through proposal evaluation to
negotiation, delivery and post contract review. AWARD is proven to reduce
time to contract, improve value for money and reduce risk. It has been used
to support strategic procurements in a range of commercial and public sectors
including utilities, transport, local government, healthcare, aerospace and
defence. These procurements cover a broad range of activities including the
provision of schools, hospitals, transport and defence systems across Europe
and the US.

"The success and ease with which the South Tyneside and Gateshead BSF
project team have been able to tailor AWARD to meet the process and
documentation laid down by Partnerships for Schools, which is responsible for
delivering the BSF programme, has had a very significant impact on the
success of the project. The STaG project adds to the long list of BSF
projects we have been involved in, giving us a powerful and unique insight
into how best to support councils in their ambitious and challenging BSF
programmes," observed John Thompson, CEO, Commerce Decisions.

Web: http://www.commercedecisions.com