Option 2 has been discounted. A mini
competition was undertaken in the Summer of 2025 indicating very
few providers in the market for this service. We need to ensure
customers are still able to use credit/ debit cards for payments in
the short term. Entering into a temporary framework agreement
enables us to start the procurement process whilst still having a
service in place. We expect to be able to complete this in late
2026.
Option 3 has been discounted as we have an incumbent provider with
no agreement in place. This puts us at risk of uncontrolled
increases in transactions fees or withdrawal of service.