Purchase of supermarket vouchers for household support fund

Descriptions

The London Borough of Ealing ("the Authority"), has conducting a direct award procurement process, via the CCS Framework RM6248 Payment Solutions Lot 3 Framework under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
The contract has been awarded to BlackHawk Network EMEA Limited. It is intended that the contract shall be for an initial term of 1 year, with the option to extend for a further 3 months. (if applicable) The approximate annual value of the contract is £3,500,000 and the total value is 3,800,000 including any extension options.

The services required by this contract include:
Ealing requires a fully managed voucher service for high volume closed loop vouchers to be exchanged for groceries, to support the distribution of household support funds to low-income families within the borough. The service must provide an online platform for the Benefits Service, FSM department, and Care Leavers team to place orders for supermarket vouchers. These vouchers will be issued to eligible residents as identified by the respective services. There should be options for families to receive vouchers either via a code sent electronically, allowing them to redeem the vouchers themselves. The vouchers will have a validity period limited to a maximum of 3 months.