Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 25 January (HL5539), in respect of the Cabinet Office’s contract with Bain & Company, reference CCCC18A29-01, (1) what was the procurement process, (2) what work was delivered, and (3) what evaluation of the (a) quality, and (b) value for money, of that work they undertook at the completion of the contract.

This question relates to two contracts with BAIN and Company (BAIN): CCCC18A29 and CCCC20A01. These contracts formed part of a portfolio of contracts managed by Cabinet Office in order to support Brexit and Transition Period work across government. The former contract was varied to include COVID-19 response work and was part of the cross-government response. Both contracts are now closed.

The below information is publicly available.

CCCC18A29 was a call-off contract, awarded following a further competition via a framework agreement. The contract was awarded for a total value of £20m and commenced in April 2018; this included a one year £10m extension option, which was exercised. Additionally, the contract was varied for an additional £5m in March 2019. In March 2020, this contract was extended for four additional months and varied to include COVID-19 response work. The contract ended in August 2019, with a total spend of £12.9m.

This contract was used to provide strategic advisory and analytical services to Departments, in regards to the planning and development of policies and programmes. The scope was limited to Brexit and Covid-19 response work.

Work was evaluated on a project by project basis at the business unit level to assess quality of outcomes. This fed into the Cabinet Office’s regular supplier performance reviews.

CCCC20A01 was a call-off contract, awarded following a further competition via a framework agreement. The contract was awarded for a total value of £30m and commenced in September 2020. This included a one year £10m extension option, which was not exercised. The contract was closed in August 2021, with a total spend of £1m.

This contract was used to provide strategic advisory and analytical services to Departments, in regards to the planning and development of policies and programmes. The scope was limited to Transition Period work.

Work was evaluated on a project by project basis at the business unit level to assess quality of outcomes. This fed into the Cabinet Office’s regular supplier performance reviews.