The UK Government’s procurement arm, Buying Solutions, seems determined to live up to its delightfully appropriate acronym by announcing (just late yesterday) that it has awarded the two months overdue framework agreement for Assistive Technologies – Telecare, Telehealth and Telecoaching (RM 748)…but that it will only be ‘ready for use’ in a week’s time, on 16th August.

In the meantime, suppliers on the agreement are only able to announce the fact via a BS-approved press release. As it appears to be approving them at the Government service level agreement compliant reading rate of two a day, BS is frustrating everyone involved including the larger suppliers such as Tunstall, who can only sit on their press releases and grit their teeth until approval has been given. Is this control freakery gone mad? Or does BS not trust the suppliers to say the right thing? Telecare Aware is keeping an updated list of press releases as they appear, on this item: Companies jump BS Telecare Framework publicity launch.