DIGIT-TM framework contract

DIGIT-TM is a 1 Billion Euro contract from the European Commission for IT services across Europe, which was awarded on the 21^st of July 2018. DIGIT-TM intends to subcontract around 2.000 Information Technology professionals during its 4 years life cycle. All those professionals will need to use a specific Curriculum Vitae template imposed by the rules of the framework contract called DIGIT-TM CV template.

 

DIGIT-TM CV template

Every company that won the framework contract will have to propose their IT consultants by using the DIGIT-TM CV template. The DIGIT-TM CV is a very detailed and precise Curriculum Vitae, which needs to be updated at every contract renewal. It is, in fact, a live report of the professional experience of the consultant, and because it is so rich, a considerable amount of time should be taken to create it for the first time and to keep it up to date for every contract renewal.

A DIGIT-TM CV template is divided into 4 sections, which can be described as follows:

• First section – a general description of the consultant and role they are applying for;
• Second section – a list of all the training/certificates that the consultant has received;
• Third section – a list of all the software expertise the consultant possesses, complete with their level of competence, as well as a list of projects with their duration in months and IDs. The third section is the one that takes the most time to build and update;
• Fourth section – List of all professional experience, with special focus on the detail of each project. This detailed explanation must include a project description, specify the roles and responsibilities the consultant performed, and contain the listing of all technologies and methodologies used in each project.

 

The hidden costs

The biggest drawback of the DIGIT-TM CV template being so detailed is the time that its construction consumes. If one does it manually, building the CV for the first time and keeping it up to date will take a great amount of time.

Moreover, the majority of the 30 IT companies that won the DIGIT-TM framework contracts, as well as many others that are sub-providers for the winners, are still using manual labor to build their consultant’s CVs and keep them up to date.

In this post, we will try to project based on some scenarios the hidden cost of creating these CVs for the next four coming years. These projections will allow us to understand how much the industry will spend in terms of money and time by manually building and updating the DIGIT-TM CV template.

 

Projection: Costs can surpass half a million euros and more than 20.000 hours in 4 years

To calculate the amount of money and time spent on creating and updating CVs for this project, we must first understand the scope and the length of this framework contract. The DIGIT-TM framework will hire around 2000 IT consultants for a period of 4 years.

To project the hidden cost, we need to divide the big problem into smaller problems, to be able to extrapolate the full scenario.

There are two main events that we must take into consideration:

1. One shot event: New CV that needs to be built from scratch.
   • Every time a new consultant arrives for the first time, they need to build their DIGIT-TM CV template. This can take between 2 to 8 hours. A brand new CV for a senior profile can even reach 40 pages. Let’s assume that, on average, a consultant takes 3 hours to create their CV. Let’s also assume that for every new position 4 new CVs will be handed in.
2. Recurrent event: Update of the existing CV
   • Every time that an existing consultant renews their contract, they need to update their DIGIT-TM CV template. This can take from 30 minutes to 1 hour and a half (if they need to add a new project on their professional experience). Let’s assume that, on average, a consultant takes 40 minutes, and that, on average, a consultant renews their contract every 6 months.

After separating the different events, we now need to know how often they will occur in order to project the cost.

Time:

So, how many consultants will have to create their CV for the first time each year?

In a universe of 2000 consultants, and by using the IT industry sector turnover (people that change job) that is 10% (“In 2017, the IT industry had the highest job turnover rate of any sector at 13.2%. — LinkedIn, 2018”), we have around 200 new positions available per year that EC needs to fill with new candidates. That means 200 x 4 proposed CVs per position, which result in 800 new CVs per year.

As for the update of the CVs, we can assume that 2000 consultants will renew their contract twice a year, which means we have 4000 CV updates per year.

Now that we know that we will have 800 new CVs + 4000 CV updates per year, we can calculate how many working hours this manual task will take.

800 new CVs x an average of 3 hours to build a DIGIT TM from scratch = 2.400 working hours

4000 CV updates x an average of 40 minutes or 0.66 hours to update a DIGIT TM = 2666.67 working hours

In conclusion, per year, the creation and updating of all CVs result in 5 066.67 working hours or 633.33 working days spent on completing this task.

The live cycle of DIGIT-TM is planned for 4 years, if we multiply the previous value by 4 years, we reach an amount of 20 267 working hours or 2 533.33 working days.

Just imagine what could be done with 20 267 working hours!

Cost:

Now the question is: how much do these 20.267 working hours cost for the economy?

In Belgium, the average total cost (taxes, social security, etc.) for an hour of work is between 24€ and 30€ per hour.

In the EU28, the average total cost (taxes, social security, etc.) for an hour of work is between 15€ and 20€ per hour.

 

Thus, by applying the Belgian prices we reach the total price of 486 400€ to 608 000€; while the EU28 prices reach the total price of 304 000€ to 405 333€

This means that if the job is manually performed by office workers, the cost will range from 304.000€ to 608.000€.

A scenario more common than usual

But what if the job is not being performed by office workers of the IT companies supplying the European Commission? What if it is being shifted to the IT consultants, that must now update their CV during office hours?

In this case, the costs will be much higher, because an IT consultant is paid at much higher prices than an office worker.

The DIGIT-TM envisions a budget of 1.200 Million euros for 2000 consultants for a period of 4 years. That gives us an average price of 681€ per consultant or 85.23€ per hour. Let’s consider that only 60% of that value is given to the consultant, so the consultant receives in average 50€ an hour.

Now let’s assume that 50% of the companies update the CVs for the consultants and the other 50% ask the consultant to update the CV for them.

20.267/2= 8800 x 20€ = 202 667 €

20.267/2= 8800 x 50€ = 506 667€

We reach a final amount of 709 334€.

Applying these projections to real companies

We have gone one step further. Here are the projections how much DIGIT-TM CV will cost to each company based on the number of consultants for the 4 years of DIGIT-TM framework contract.

 

 

The solution: a CV generator

We have great news for all the consultants and companies involved with DIGIT-TM! Currently, DIGIT-TM CV is fully supported by Sprint CV. By using the CV Generator, consultants and recruiters will be able to generate a DIGIT-TM CV in less than 30 seconds, with an additional 2 minutes to double check everything! We believe this automated process will be of great help to all the market participants.

This can create huge savings in terms of time and money for everyone.

Instead of spending 3 hours to create a DIGIT-TM CV for the first time, the consultant can create their account and then generate a well formatted DIGIT-TM CV in less than 30 seconds. This means savings on time of more than 80%!

Sprint CV can help the market save more than 16.200 hours or 2026 working days, just by automating the CV generation. Imagine all the business opportunities that can be created when you free up those 16.200 hours!