Southwark tenders for £100m customer service centre

The London Borough of Southwark is looking for suppliers for a £100m customer service centre contract to improve the way it interacts with citizens.

The 10-year deal covers a call centre, customer relationship management software and links to back office systems.

The purchasing process has started for a managed service contract that will select vendors to build the infrastructure and provide a chargeable service to the council. Around 100 staff will transfer to the supplier.

The contract is expected to be signed in spring 2004, with the new centre up and running in early 2005.

The council is re-engineering its business processes in parallel with the procurement, says Bill Murphy, Southwark's assistant chief executive, improvement and development.

'We want to do some innovation before the supplier comes in so that what we are handing over is as efficient as it can be. But it doesn't stop there - a key part of contract will be for the provider to continue the process of innovation,' he said.

The programme is crucial to bringing Southwark up to date, says Murphy.

'This is a major shake up - the technology is driving the cultural change we need,' he said.