Member: Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
Service Area: Sefton Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC)
Solution: Technology Enabled Lives Framework
Procurement Lead: Joanne Alty, Service Manager
Sefton Council’s Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) plays a critical role in supporting vulnerable residents across the borough, operating a 24/7, 365-day service.
From handling Careline calls to managing town centre CCTV and out-of-hours emergency response, reliability and responsiveness are essential.
When the Council needed to procure a new in-house call monitoring platform, they turned to NHC Procurement to help them navigate the process with confidence, speed and compliance.
The challenge
For Joanne Alty, newly appointed as Service Manager, this was her first time leading a procurement exercise through a framework.
At the same time, her team was operating in a high-pressure local authority environment, balancing stretched resources with the need to maintain uninterrupted frontline services.
Key challenges included:
- Limited internal capacity to manage a complex procurement process
- A need to ensure full compliance with public sector procurement regulations, including the Procurement Act 2023
- Identifying trusted, high-quality suppliers capable of delivering a critical service
- Developing robust tender documentation and evaluation criteria
The solution
Sefton Council chose to use NHC Procurement’s Technology Enabled Lives (TEL) Framework, recognising our strong pool of pre-approved, high-quality suppliers and our alignment with latest sector standards. What particularly stood out to Joanne and her team was the fact that our TEL framework is the only TSA-accredited framework in the UK.
From the outset, the NHC Procurement team provided hands-on, step-by-step support, including:
- Helping to shape requirements and clarify what the service needed to achieve
- Providing template documentation and example evaluation questions
- Supporting supplier engagement to ensure informed decision-making
- Offering ongoing, responsive advice throughout the process
As Joanne explains, the ability to pick up the phone and speak directly with the NHC Procurement team was invaluable:
“They made sure the documentation was all in place. When you’re in a local authority and very overstretched, they make the process easy and straightforward.”
The outcome
By working with NHC Procurement, Sefton Council successfully procured a new careline platform, selecting from a range of trusted suppliers. As a result, they have completed an efficient, fully-supported procurement process, demonstrating how streamlined and efficient procurement can be with the right support in place.
All suppliers on the framework were pre-vetted, giving the team assurance that they were working with organisations that met the highest standards. The selected suppliers are delivering an excellent level of service, with strong, professional relationships established from the outset.
“The hands-on support from NHC Procurement reduced the burden on our internal teams, making a complex process manageable,” adds Joanne.
The value of partnership
For Sefton Council, the experience went beyond simply accessing a compliant route to market. It demonstrated the value of having a trusted partner throughout the procurement journey.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do that without the step-by-step guidance of the NHC Procurement team,” says Joanne. “I always knew that I could call them to talk through any questions.”
Joanne has since gone on to recommend NHC Procurement to peers across other local authorities, a reflection of both the quality of the framework and the strength of the support behind it.
Looking ahead
With a new careline platform in place and strong supplier relationships established, Sefton Council is well-positioned to continue delivering reliable, high-quality services to residents.
By combining sector expertise, compliant frameworks and practical, hands-on support, NHC Procurement helped turn a potentially complex procurement exercise into a successful, confidence-building experience.
Interested in achieving similar results? Get in touch to find out how NHC Procurement can support your next procurement project.
