COMMERCE DECISIONS LIMITED

AWARD® Procurement Evaluation

Commerce Decisions delivers the proven AWARD® strategic evaluation service across the UK public sector. AWARD® is complimentary to eSourcing tools, to assist procurements through-life; from market engagement, planning and preparation, qualification, through to evaluation, negotiation to continuous supplier performance review and contract compliance.

Features

• Real Time Evaluation Progress Reporting
• Market Engagement, RFI, Questionnaires
• OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE and ITAR Cloud Environment
• Data Rooms, Document Transfer and Data Storage
• MAT Value for Money Assessments
• Multi Phase, Evaluation and Moderation
• Criteria 4-Factor Weighting
• Advanced Single/Multi-Lot
• Supplier Interaction (Incl. Find a Tender) (PA23)
• AI Procurement features

Benefits

• Manage Strategic Evaluations Effortlessly
• Deliver Robust and Defensible Decisions
• Manage Complexity with Ease
• Reduce time to contract
• Reduce cost & risk
• Ensure Compliance
• Enable collaboration
• Maintain detailed audit and decisions logs

• Education pricing available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sales@commercedecisions.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

787113461644736

Contact

Samantha Bevan-Talbot
01235 431100
sales@commercedecisions.com

About the service

• Service categories:

  Applications

  Enterprise resource management

  • Procurement
• Multi cloud support: No

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
• What software services is the service an extension to: Commerce Decisions can integrate AWARD® with sourcing systems and run it in different environments, but this refers to functional integration (e.g., with JAGGAER, Atamis, SAP Ariba etc)
• Cloud deployment model:
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
• Service constraints: Planned Maintenance & Scheduled Downtime; Notice: Customers receive at least two weeks’ notice of planned maintenance events.; Timing: Maintenance is normally scheduled on weekends to minimise impact.; Typical Downtime per Event: Around 2–4 hours per planned maintenance window.
• System requirements:
  • Modern standard-compliant browsers
  • Modern supported operating systems Windows, MacOS, Linux

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: The AWARD Helpdesk operates between 09:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday excluding UK public holidays (reduced service between Christmas and New Year). During these hours, email queries will typically be responded to within 4 hours, but usually within one hour. Support emails received outside these hours will be responded to when the Helpdesk is back online as above.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Standard; Expert Assist (15% of AWARD subscription cost); Expert Assist+ (20% of AWARD subscription cost); Managed Service; Professional Services; ; Technical Support (AWARD platform build & on-boarding); Technical support services include: tenant provisioning, solution configuration, template creation (RFx, evaluation plans, scoring matrices), system validation, user on-boarding, and admin training. These are typically scoped as project days or fixed engagements.; Implementation packages (including setup, training, configuration) may be structured as blocks of days (e.g., 5–40+ days) tailored to customer scale.; Indicative cost range:; Basic on-boarding & tenant setup: £3,000–£10,000+ (5–10 days); Full deployment with templates & training: £10,000–£40,000+ (20–40+ days); Ongoing support retainers: often daily or monthly blocks agreed in advance.; Professional Services (Procurement & Competition Design); Professional services focus on procurement strategy, evaluation design, criteria development and weighting, value-for-money modelling, cost evaluation, and competitive process design. These areas as listed are advisory and analytical services delivered by experienced specialists.; ; Indicative engagement costs (advisory consultants):; ; Short engagements / focused reviews: £500–£1,500/day; ; End-to-end competition design support: 10–80+ days depending on scope, complexity, and governance requirements.; ; Higher-level strategic programmes or complex VfM modelling may incur a premium.; ; Note:Direct pricing should be obtained for precise budgeting.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Commerce Decisions supports customers in starting and operating the AWARD® service through a combination of onboarding, training, documentation, and UK-based support, aligned to public-sector and regulated procurement environments.; ; This enables users to effectively adopt AWARD® through structured onboarding, flexible training (online and onsite), comprehensive documentation (knowledge base), and a UK-based support function (SC cleared) capable of meeting security and assurance requirements.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: There are extensive reports and export functions built into AWARD.; ; These allow the user to extract all the non-document information from the system at any point in time.; ; All documents are always available to the user for download.; ; Full archiving packages are also available (price on request), where Commerce Decisions will extract all documents and provide these with a comprehensive set of reports to ensure full traceability of the procurement remains.
• End-of-contract process: Following a customer using the AWARD software, there are options to extend their licence, archive their project/s, or move to an online Audit Licence.; ; Prior to the end of any licence term, the customer success and account management teams will be in contact to discuss these steps and options,; ; All data, projects, users, suppliers will be deleted after 30 days following the licence ending.
• Documentation accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AA

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA
• Description of service interface: At Commerce Decisions, we're committed to giving people the tools they need to get the best outcomes for strategic procurement. ; ; When the AWARD product was in its early stages of development, we used the JAWS software to test and identify the technical patterns that we needed to support WCAG. ; ; Since then, the team have implemented changes to the product whilst continuing to apply the technical patterns through the development life-cycle to help ensure WCAG compliance. ; ; We also support our customers testing of AWARD to ensure compliance with their users’ accessibility needs.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.2 AA
• Accessibility testing: We take accessibility seriously and recognise that accessibility work is never done, we’re doing everything practical to achieve and maintain “Level AA” conformance, and endeavour to resolve any accessibility issues raised to our support team.
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: The procurement design is completely flexible, in alignment with the customers Tender Documentation. AWARD can be customised further to suit the procurement needs, with user access per criteria, data room access, document access.; ; Users can use the technical support and guidance for customisation which is available from the AWARD knowledge base.; ; Customer Logos can be applied via support requests.; ; AWARD Administrative Users have customisation capabilities

Scaling

• Independence of resources: AWARD protects users from each other’s demand through tenant isolation, scaleable cloud infrastructure, resource controls, and continuous monitoring. AWARD is delivered as a cloud-hosted SaaS platform with logical separation between customers (tenants). The platform runs on elastic cloud infrastructure designed to scale compute, storage, and network resources as demand increases.; AWARD includes system monitoring, audit logs, and usage reporting, enabling Commerce Decisions to detect abnormal demand patterns and intervene proactively. Availability targets (e.g. 99.9% up time excluding planned maintenance) and operational support arrangements create contractual incentives for the Commerce Decisions to maintain consistent performance across all users.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: AWARD provides service metrics, logging and administrative reporting capabilities to help monitor usage, users, licences, and activity within the system.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request
• Resource tagging: No
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Supplier type

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 4.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed / Cryptographic Erasure

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: To download documents, go to the Document tab, select Download and choose which document groups you wish to download; a zip file will then be created allowing all selected documents to be downloaded in a single file.; To export the project structure, go to set up, tools, additional tools, export. Then choose the correct Export Option and click save. ; ; More guidance is available directly in AWARD for users.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • Zip
  • .xlsx
  • .docx
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats:
  • Zip
  • Pdf
  • Docx
  • Xlsx
  • Mp4
  • Cad
  • Dwg

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: Private WAN service Data is held in an a high-spec Tier 3 secure data centre on dedicated hardware in locked racks. Access to the server racks is from nominated Security Cleared individuals. Data related to the service is only accessible to identified individuals with clear roles and responsibilities, all of whom carry SC Clearance. Commerce Decisions' entire operation is accredited to ISO27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: The AWARD service data centre has a 99.9% uptime guarantee excluding planned maintenance windows.
• Approach to resilience: The Data Centre (DC) provides multiple availability zones with server anti-affinity to ensure spread over unrelated hosts to minimize the impact of physical hardware within the DC. In the event of a hardware fault, any affected server migrates to a new host. ; ; The DC and hosting environment behind the AWARD® service provide a 99.9% uptime guarantee backed by service level agreements with the data centre supplier. ; ; Redundant PSUs and redundant internet connections. ; ; The infrastructure providing the service is built with redundancy in all hardware elements, and we make use of the resilience features to help maximise availability. ; ; To ensure against disruption or loss, data is stored in cloud storage on top of the redundant disks with SLAs. Loss of a single disk cannot lead to loss of data. Data is also replicated to disaster recovery systems with the same levels of redundancy.
• Outage reporting: Automated monitoring systems check availability every 1 minute. Email and SMS alerts are sent to service administrators if any issues are found.; ; Customer-facing message is used to inform for any planned outages and alert the users of any unplanned prolonged outage.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Authentication Controls: Password policy with MFA is enforced, no shared passwords or user accounts. ; RBAC: Only staff requiring access are permitted with appropriate manager approval. Staff are SC cleared before being given access.; Account Separation: Accounts used for normal business activity are separate from the accounts used for Admin or Support activity. ; ; Management interfaces have network Restrictions: Private management interfaces not publicly exposed.; Logging and Monitoring; Admin interfaces protected by TLS 1.2+; Regular access reviews; Immediate revocation when staff leave
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: We operate an Information Security Management System aligned with ISO 27001:2022 principles. ; All users receive policy packs covering areas such as Acceptable Use, Access Control, Data Protection, and Incident Management. Access and acceptance of these policies are recorded and auditable.; ; Our reporting structure ensures accountability: users report incidents via our service desk, which escalates critical issues to senior management. ; ; The Operations Manager oversees compliance, supported by our owning company's Compliance department.; ; Policy adherence is enforced through mandatory acceptance, regular security awareness training, and periodic audits. ; ; Access rights follow the principle of least privilege and are reviewed regularly. Endpoint protection and secure hosting solutions further strengthen compliance.; ; We maintain a continuous improvement cycle by reviewing policies annually and updating them based on emerging threats and audit findings. ; ; Senior leadership actively supports and monitors our ISMS to ensure robust governance and risk management.
• Software Security Code of Practice: Yes

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: We implement an ISO 27001:2022 compliant security system which includes change management controls as well as ISO9001 compliant quality controls.
• Vulnerability management type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: We implement an ISO 27001:2022 & Cyber Essentials Plus compliant security system which includes patch management processes and an intrusion detection system.; ; We routinely monitor all elements of the IT Infrastructure for patches, particularly those related to security improvements or new industry standards and these are routinely applied to ensure continued integrity of the service. All Critical & High rated patches are applied within 14 days of their release.; ; Additionally there is annual ITHC (Health check/penetration test) with corrective actions taken on any findings. ; ; An Incident Response Plan exists to respond to any perceived/real threat or related incident.
• Protective monitoring type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: We implement an ISO 27001:2022 & Cyber Essentials Plus compliant security system which includes an intrusion detection system on the firewall which protects the service. Full event log monitoring with FIM (File Integrity Monitoring).; ; Crowdstrike is installed on all systems which is a cloud-native endpoint protection platform designed to defend against cyber threats, including malware, exploits, and fileless attacks, by providing real-time monitoring and response capabilities.
• Incident management type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v4.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: We implement an ISO 27001:2022 compliant security system. We maintain documented processes for common incidents such as security breaches, outages, and access issues. Users report incidents primarily via our Service Desk platform. All incidents are logged, categorised by severity, and tracked through resolution. We provide regular status updates, and formal post-incident reports detailing root cause, actions taken, and preventive measures. Significant incidents undergo lessons learned reviews to improve controls. Our approach aligns with ISO27001 Annex A.16 and includes continuous improvement through trend analysis and periodic process reviews.
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: No

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v4.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: No

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

• Less than £250,000: 1.5%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 1.75%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 2.0%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 2.25%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 40%
• Over £5,000,001: 50%

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• ISO/IEC 27001 accredited by: BSI, Matt Page, Managing Director Assurance, UK & Ireland
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Sunday 5 February 2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Not Applicable
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: Yes
• ISO 9001 certification accredited by: BSI, Matt Page, Managing Director Assurance, UK & Ireland
• ISO 9001 accreditation date: Saturday 24 February 2024
• What the ISO 9001 doesn’t cover: Not Applicable
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber Essentials Alternative: None of the criteria
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Cyber Essentials Alternative: None of the criteria
• Other security certifications: No

Social value

• Mission: Kick start economic growth:

  To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

  Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

  • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
  • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
  • Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
  • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
  • Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
  • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
  • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
  • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
  • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
  • Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
  • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
  • Support for the contract workforce by providing career advice, and providing opportunities for staff working on the contract with in-work progression career development into known skills shortages or high growth areas
  • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
  • Volunteering opportunities for staff
  • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
  • How to ensure business decisions re: price/cost, short lead times, payment timescales do not create modern slavery risks in the supply chain
  • Means of influencing staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders with respect to modern slavery risks relating to the contract

  Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

  • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
  • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
  • Activities to support relevant sector related skills growth and sustainability in the contract workforce. Illustrative examples: careers talks, curriculum support, literacy support, safety talks and volunteering

  Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

  • Understanding of the types of businesses in the market and the level of participation by new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
  • Activities to identify opportunities to open up sub-contracts under the prime contract to a diverse range of businesses, including new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
  • Plans for engaging a diverse range of businesses in engagement activities prior to appointing subcontractors (including activities prior to award of the main contract and during the contract term)
  • Activities that demonstrate a collaborative way to work with a diverse range of businesses as part of the supply chain
  • Ensuring accessibility to contracting and subcontracting opportunities for disabled business owners and employees
  • Structuring of the supply chain selection process to ensure fairness (e.g. anti-corruption) and encourages participation by a diverse range of businesses, including with regard to new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutual
  • Understanding of local demographics, needs and opportunities for the co-design of the goods, services and works to be delivered under the contract
  • Plans to respond flexibly and adapt approaches to community engagement and initiatives

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sales@commercedecisions.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.