A healthcare network with three sites in a central Flemish city wants to replace its nurse call system. The old system is composed of different brands. This makes maintenance and follow-up of the various maintenance contracts by the technical service complex, and this is also not user-friendly/unambiguous for nurses who change sites. The new system requires one and the same brand across the three sites, and therefore one maintenance contract. We drew up a framework contract whereby the healthcare network can have adjustments or expansions made both immediately and in future years, and each time with the same supplier. The larger scale of the contract also had a favorable effect on the project budget.

A college of higher education with six campuses spread across East Flanders, Flemish Brabant and Brussels wants to expand access control and organize it more efficiently. This should allow staff and students to access classrooms in an organized manner and replace the physical surveillance and closing round at the end of the day with online surveillance. The college did not yet have a delineated idea of the new installation, but it did have a budget. We wrote specifications that included a "shopping list" covering all the necessary components. With this list, they can work with the contractor to see what the most urgent interventions are, and purchase until the budget is exhausted.

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Benefits of a framework contract

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• Because you don't have to re-enter the market for each building or site, a framework contract saves time and increases the return on your projects.
• You have one supplier with whom you build a long-term relationship, whereas without a framework contract, the relationship is often limited to the one-year warranty period.
• By working together longer and more broadly, you create an economy of scale that makes for more favorable prices.
• In the framework contract, you can define quality requirements for both execution and maintenance that apply for the entire duration of the contract. This can be supported with service level agreements (SLAs) and KPIs.
• A framework contract is also useful in case your needs are not yet clear.
• The contractor should not remain a mere executor, but can also be brought in to help think about your needs and how to fulfill them.

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How can Ingenium help?

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• We start by identifying your long-term needs in a tender file.
• We then select potential suppliers through the (negotiation) process who must submit references of works of a similar scale, and we guide you in establishing selection criteria.
• After you select a number of suppliers, solicit a specific bid for the described task within the framework contract and negotiate the specific approach, among other things.
• After that, we can also assist you with the implementation to ensure that all quality requirements are met.

Another thing: drawing up a framework contract for installations is not limited to light current. A framework contract can also be a useful tool for other installations, with the advantages listed above.

Would you like more info about or guidance on drawing up a framework contract weak current? Then contact our expert Tim Opsomer on 050 40 45 30 or tim.opsomer@ingenium.be.