On Thursday 30 March (10:00-11:30)*, techUK is delighted to be hosting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for an online market engagement event on their upcoming Secure Card Payment Services Procurement.
The DWP is responsible for administering welfare, pensions, and child maintenance policy in the UK, serving around 20 million claimants. The DWP operates the largest contact centre in the UK government, providing support to customers from around 135 locations and offering specialist services such as debt recovery, card payments, and assistance for customers with complex needs.
The current DWP Secure Card Payment Services (SCPS) allows business groups to receive customer payments in a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant manner, including an Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) capability to facilitate payments. The DWP service and SCPS contract currently supports approximately 9,000 agents. The current SCPS service and contract also includes the routing of outbound calls via the PCI DSS compliant service provider.
There is additional potential for approximately 2,000 more agents in the future that is not currently accounted for in the current SCPS contract. The DWP is planning to procure a new SCPS that can meet the current and future needs of the service while providing value for money and service continuity.
The new SCPS contract is required to ensure continuing capability for DWP to receive customer payments in a PCI DSS compliant manner and route all related outbound telephony calls via a PCI DSS compliant service provider.
DWP is currently looking to conduct early market engagement with a view to concluding the competitive procurement activity by June 2023.
The DWP is holding this online event, facilitated by techUK, with a view to preparing the procurement and informing suppliers of DWP's procurement plans and requirements for SCPS; and to answer questions related to the planned procurement. Following the event, the DWP will issue a Request for Information (RFI) to gain insight from the supply market that may shape the approach to market.
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For any queries related to this event, please feel free to get in touch!
Heather Cover-Kus
Head of Central Government Programme, techUK
Heather Cover-Kus
Head of Central Government Programme, techUK
Heather is Head of Central Government Programme at techUK, working to represent the supplier community of tech products and services to Central Government.
Prior to joining techUK in April 2022, Heather worked in the Economic Policy and Small States Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat. She led the organisation’s FinTech programme and worked to create an enabling environment for developing countries to take advantage of the socio-economic benefits of FinTech.
Before moving to the UK, Heather worked at the Office of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas and the Central Bank of The Bahamas.
Heather holds a Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP, a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from LSE, and a BA in Economics and Sociology from Macalester College.
Ellie joined techUK in March 2018 as a Programme Assistant to the Public Sector team and now works as a Programme Manager for the Central Government Programme.
The programme represents the supplier community of technology products and services in Central Government – in summary working to make Government a more informed buyer, increasing supplier visibility in order to improve their chances of supplying to Government Departments, and fostering better engagement between the public sector and industry. To find out more about what we do, how we do this and how you can get involved – make sure to get in touch!
Prior to joining techUK, Ellie completed Sixth Form in June 2015 and went on to work in Waitrose, moved on swiftly to walking dogs and finally, got an office job working for a small local business in North London, where she lives with her family and their two Bengal cats Kai and Nova.
When she isn’t working Ellie likes to spend time with her family and friends, her cats, and enjoys volunteering for diabetes charities. She has a keen interest in writing, escaping with a good book and expanding her knowledge watching far too many quiz shows!
Austin joined techUK’s Central Government team in March 2024 to launch a workstream within Education and EdTech.
With a career spanning technology, policy, media, events and comms, Austin has worked with technology communities, as well as policy leaders and practitioners in Education, Central and Local Government and the NHS.
Cutting his teeth working for Skills Matter, London’s developer community hub, Austin then moved to GovNet Communications where he launched Blockchain Live and the Cyber Security and Data Protection Summit. For the last 3 years he has worked with leaders in Education across the state and independent schools sectors, from primary up to higher education, with a strong research interest in technology and education management.
Programme Manager, Cyber Security and Central Government, techUK
Annie Collings
Programme Manager, Cyber Security and Central Government, techUK
Annie joined techUK as the Programme Manager for Cyber Security and Central Government in September 2023.
Prior to joining techUK, Annie worked as an Account Manager at PLMR Healthcomms, a specialist healthcare agency providing public affairs support to a wide range of medical technology clients. Annie also spent time as an Intern in an MPs constituency office and as an Intern at the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed.
Annie graduated from Nottingham Trent University, where she was an active member of the lacrosse society.
Ella joined techUK in November 2023 as a Markets Team Assistant, supporting the Justice and Emergency Services, Central Government and Financial Services Programmes.
Before joining the team, she was working at the Magistrates' Courts in legal administration and graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2022. Ella attained an undergraduate degree in History and Politics, and a master's degree in International Relations and Security Studies, with a particular interest in studying asylum rights and gendered violence.
In her spare time she enjoys going to the gym, watching true crime documentaries, travelling, and making her best attempts to become a better cook.
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