The Public Services Network’s £999 compliance charge for using the Government Secure Internet Convergence Framework has been removed and replaced with a set of unbundled fees that should always be cheaper, according the Government Digital Service.
The compliance charge covered core services such as domain name resolution, e-mail relay and interconnections to other networks delivered as part of the convergence framework, which was the successor to the GSi framework.
However, the convergence framework closed to new business in August last year, although individual contracts can be serviced until 2019. At the time, the Crown Commercial Service said it was working with the GDS to unbundle individual customers’ contracts into “discrete” components to allow for greater flexibility.
Related content
Government Digital Service trials e-mail ‘assurance’ tool
Suppliers welcome new PSN compliance regime
In a blog post this week, GDS head of PSN compliance Mark Smith said the £999 charge had been removed with “immediate effect” and should no-longer appear on amended contracts sent out to roughly 700 public sector service-users.
“This charge was levied to cover the work needed to complete compliance assessments,” he said.
“It also covered our oversight and management of the compliance process, which creates the right environment to share information and services.
“We’ll still do this with the same rigour. It’s hugely important that we continue to make sure the PSN remains a safe network for people to use, but the improvements and changes we’ve made to the compliance process over the past year means we can now remove the charge.”
Smith said that under the new unbundled arrangements, separately-priced components were cheaper than the bundled services, even if all the services previously available were chosen.