Pitney Bowes wins UK public services hybrid deal

Pitney Bowes has been awarded a contract to provide hybrid mail solutions as a framework supplier of Buying Solutions – the national procurement partner for all UK public services. Buying Solutions is part of the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office. Its primary role is to maximise the value for money obtained by Government departments and other public bodies through the procurement and supply of goods and services.

“Pitney Bowes’ offer combines the company’s hybrid mail software platform, P/I OfficeMail, with its broad equipment product portfolio and managed fulfilment services. Additionally, Pitney Bowes is able to offer clients the flexibility of on-site or off-site mail production,” the company said.

Service users can create and submit customer communication documents at their desktops and submit them via P/I OfficeMail’s secure web interface for printing, inserting and delivery.

Organisations have the choice of using the Pitney Bowes P/I OfficeMail software to push production to a secure off site facility, managed by Pitney Bowes, where documents can be printed, inserted and mailed.

Alternatively, organisations may wish to leverage or optimise their existing resources to push work to a centralised on site or near site shared services mail production and fulfilment facility.

In this event, Pitney Bowes would work with the client to perform a detailed mail audit and recommend the right mix of software and equipment according to the projected mail volumes and would train staff on the operation of that equipment.

Buying Solutions facilitates the buying process in a complex marketplace, providing access to over 500,000 products and services through more than 1,500 suppliers. The diverse customer base spans the biggest central government departments, NHS Trusts and local councils, through to the smallest schools.

The framework agreement is effective until August 2014.

Ian Davidson, president, Pitney Bowes Europe, said: “We are delighted to secure this framework contract. The public sector is under immense pressure to cut spend and to ‘do more for less’. Hybrid mail is an interesting proposition for organisations of every size, many of whom find it hard to stay on top of print and mail related expenditure.

“Our solution not only provides users with robust and secure software front-end but also utilises our own production technology and expertise to ensure documents are professionally printed and produced at the best possible cost.

“We are supporting the user at every stage of the document production process.”