Synergy Programme Delivery Partner

The Authority is seeking to engage the market to work with The Synergy Programme and its stakeholders to procure a new client-side Delivery Partner, to support the deployment, embedding and operational delivery of the ERP solution and end to end business processes. The Synergy Programme has been established to bring together the individual Department plans in line with the Government Business Service (GBS) published Shared Services Strategy for Government: this includes building a common operating model, BPS, single technology, and single commercial strategy.

The Synergy Programme comprises the following central Government Departments (Departments) and their Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs). • Ministry of Justice (MoJ); • Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); • Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA); and • Home Office (HO). DWP are currently the lead contracting authority for The Synergy Programme.

The Partner will be expected to deliver outcomes against five separate categories: Programme Delivery: The Supplier will review and validate the overall programme delivery framework using their strategic delivery expertise and industry best practice. This includes ensuring that governance structures, benefits realisation approaches, risk management, and transition planning are robust, integrated, and aligned with the programme’s objectives.

The Supplier will contribute expert insight to confirm that the programme is appropriately structured and managed to enable successful delivery across departments. Implementation: The Supplier will apply their implementation expertise to review and validate all readiness, transition, and post-go-live arrangements.

This includes evaluating cutover strategies, readiness assessments, hypercare models, stakeholder engagement plans, and continuous improvement processes to ensure alignment with delivery risk, compliance, and operational performance expectations. Business Change: The Supplier will review and validate all business change-related activities, drawing on best practice to ensure the approach to user adoption, communication, behavioural change, and stakeholder engagement is appropriate and effective.

This includes evaluating change impact assessments, stakeholder readiness, communications planning, and mechanisms for cultural change and long-term adoption success. Readiness Assessment (including learning and training): The Supplier will be responsible for developing and delivering the full readiness and learning offer for the Synergy Programme.

This includes conducting training needs analysis (TNA) and HAP assessments, creating a blended learning strategy, designing and delivering department-specific learning materials, ensuring alignment with business change and go-live timelines, and establishing a centralised knowledge repository. The Supplier will ensure the workforce is equipped with the capabilities required to adopt and sustain ERP-enabled processes.

Synergy Shared Services Hub (SSSH) Enablement: The Supplier will review and validate the design and establishment of the Synergy Shared Services Hub (SSSH), ensuring that the proposed operating model, governance structures, transition approach, and capability planning align with best practice for public sector shared services. Their expertise will help ensure the SSSH is scalable, strategically aligned, and capable of delivering the intended benefits across departments.

The Authority intends to commence a single procurement for Synergy Programme Delivery Partner through a Software Design and Implementation Services procedure under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The Synergy Programme is looking to procure a new client-side Delivery Partner, to support the deployment, embedding and operational delivery of the ERP solution and end to end business processes.

The Partner will be expected to deliver outcomes against five separate categories: 1. Programme Delivery 2.

Implementation 3. Business Change 4.

Readiness Assessment (including learning and training) 5. Synergy Shared Services Hub (SSSH) Enablement.

The Programme would benefit from technical expertise needed to implement the ERP and end-to-end business processes effectively. This is required for the Common and Local Design, providing Technical Business Change expertise will ensure users are able to adopt the new technology, as well as new processes, and this will be embedded by appropriate technical learning provisions.

The effective development of the SSSH will enable a more integrated and cost-effective ERP environment, and the Programme Delivery capability will ensure strategic alignment across all these areas, providing oversight in respect of planning, risk and governance, and enabling the Programme to maximise the Benefits of the ERP implementation. The Authority proposes conducting a single procurement process to award a single contract for the Synergy Programme Delivery Partner.

However, bidding as a consortium, or as a prime contractor with the use of a range of subcontractors, will be permitted to encourage the delivery of the best overall solution. The Authority will be conducting this procurement in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended). More specifically the Authority will be utilising the RM6193 Software Design and Implementation Services framework.