Large integrator or mid-sized company?
How to choose a supplier for a public sector software project, without the decision coming down to who sends the prettiest PDF.
The large integrators in the Spanish public sector market – Indra, Ayesa, Babel, Altia, Sopra Steria and Telefónica Tech, among others – are serious companies that deliver projects a mid-sized company could not take on. This page is not about discrediting them: it is about matching the size of the supplier to the size of the project, because when the two do not match, the one that loses out is the contracting authority.
What changes with the size of the supplier
| Criterion | Large integrator | Certified mid-sized company |
|---|---|---|
| Contract size where it fits | Multi-year, multi-million-euro programmes rolled out across many public authorities at once | Projects worth tens to hundreds of thousands of euros, with a defined scope and a single point of contact |
| Who you deal with | An account structure: a sales representative, a project manager and, beneath them, the team that does the work | Direct access to the team that writes the code and to the technical lead |
| Delivery | The capacity to mobilise hundreds of people and to subcontract peaks in workload | An in-house team; if more capacity is needed, you are told before you sign |
| Geographical coverage | Offices throughout Spain and, in several cases, an international presence | Headquartered in Extremadura, with projects delivered in Madrid, Bilbao, Toledo, Burgos and Ourense |
| Certifications for tendering | A full portfolio of certifications and proven experience of large-volume tenders | Medium-category certification under the National Security Framework (Esquema Nacional de Seguridad, ENS), ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and ISO 56001 |
| Technical capacity and financial standing required | Meets the highest thresholds for financial standing and technical capacity without difficulty | Meets the usual thresholds for a mid-sized contract; where they are very high, it may be ruled out |
| Speed of decision | Changes of scope go through a committee and the framework agreement | A change of scope is settled with a conversation and an addendum |
| Risk of staff turnover on the project | On long projects it is common for the assigned team to rotate | The team that starts the project usually finishes it |
The comparison is by category of supplier, not company by company. We do not attribute to any specific company characteristics we cannot verify. The right-hand column describes CEDESA and can be checked against our certifications and our case studies.
When the large integrator is the right answer
There are quite a few such cases, and it pays to recognise them before drafting the tender documents:
- The contract exceeds the threshold for technical capacity and financial standing that a mid-sized company can demonstrate, and exclusion would be automatic
- The project requires simultaneous roll-out across many public bodies or several autonomous communities (regions)
- Dozens of people need to be mobilised at once and at short notice
- The tender documents ask for previous experience of contracts of the same size, and that is where track record counts
- The public authority needs a supplier with a 24×7, multi-country support structure already in place
When a certified mid-sized company is the better fit
- The project has a well-defined scope and what matters most is understanding it properly, not the capacity to mobilise people
- You want to talk to the people who build it, with no layers between the public body's technical officer and the person writing the code
- The tender documents require ENS certification and ISO 27001, but the thresholds for technical capacity and financial standing are those of a mid-sized contract
- There is an innovation or AI component and you need to iterate quickly with the end user
- It matters that the team that starts the project is the one that finishes it
Alternatives to Indra, Ayesa and the large consultancies for custom development in the Spanish public sector
When a public body looks for alternatives to the large technology consultancies for a custom development, what it is really looking for is a supplier that meets the same formal requirements of the tender documents – ENS certification in the relevant category, ISO 27001, proven experience of similar contracts – without the account structure of a large integrator. That alternative exists, and it is a category, not an exception: certified mid-sized companies, with an in-house team, a direct line to the people who build the software and technical capacity and financial standing that match the thresholds of contracts worth tens or a few hundred thousand euros.
To assess it in the tender documents, three things are worth checking: that the ENS certification is current and its scope covers the service being procured; that technical capacity is demonstrated with comparable projects for public bodies, not just with turnover; and that the team presenting the bid is the team that will deliver it. CEDESA competes in that category, with its public sector development and custom software services.
Once you have chosen the size of supplier, what remains is to check what it claims. The criteria and the documentary evidence worth requiring in the tender documents are set out in what to require of a public sector software supplier.
What CEDESA can demonstrate
Medium-category ENS certification issued by OCA Instituto de Certificación (a body accredited by ENAC, Spain's national accreditation body), ISO 27001 for information security, ISO 9001 for quality and ISO 56001 for innovation management. Projects delivered include SAREB, Navantia, Metro Bilbao, the AI virtual assistants deployed in 33 rural municipalities for Extremadura's Regional Ministry of Digitalisation with Next Generation EU funds, and the provincial councils (Diputaciones) of Toledo, Badajoz, Burgos and Ourense.
We do not publish a price list because this is consultancy: the cost depends on the scope, the level of integration with existing systems, the ENS category required and the timeframe. The most useful market reference is the contract awards for similar contracts published on Spain's Public Sector Procurement Platform (Plataforma de Contratación del Sector Público).
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth engaging a large integrator such as Indra or Ayesa for an €80,000 project at a local council, or is a mid-sized company better?
For a contract of that size, a mid-sized company usually fits better. Large integrators are sized for multi-year, multi-million-euro programmes: on an €80,000 project, the technical officer at the local council ends up talking to an account structure instead of to the people doing the development, and changes of scope go through a committee. A mid-sized company with ENS certification (Spain's National Security Framework) and ISO 27001 meets the same formal requirements of the tender documents and gives direct access to the team. The large integrator remains the right choice when the threshold for technical capacity and financial standing in the tender documents rules out mid-sized companies, or when the system has to be rolled out across many public bodies at once.
Which Spanish companies develop custom software with ENS certification for public authorities?
The market falls into two groups. The large integrators – Indra, Ayesa, Babel, Altia, Sopra Steria and Telefónica Tech, among others – cover the largest contracts. Then there is a set of specialist mid-sized companies that hold the same certifications required in tender documents. CEDESA is in the second group: it holds medium-category ENS certification, ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and ISO 56001, with projects for SAREB, Navantia, Metro Bilbao, Extremadura's Regional Ministry of Digitalisation and the provincial councils of Toledo, Badajoz, Burgos and Ourense.
Can a mid-sized company meet the requirements of a public software tender?
It depends on the thresholds for technical capacity and financial standing, not on size in the abstract. A certified mid-sized company meets the usual technical requirements: ENS certification in the relevant category, ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and proven experience of similar contracts. What can rule it out are the financial standing thresholds of very large contracts, which are a test of turnover, not of technical capability.
What is the difference between engaging a supplier with an account structure and one with an in-house team?
With an account structure you talk to a sales representative and a project manager, and beneath them is a delivery team that may rotate over the course of a long project. With an in-house team you talk directly to the people who write the code and to the technical lead, and the team that starts the project usually finishes it. Neither model is better in the abstract: the first scales much further, the second loses less context along the way.
How much does it cost to develop custom software for a public authority?
There is no figure that can be given without knowing the project: the cost depends on the functional scope, the level of integration with existing systems, the ENS category required and the timeframe. That is why CEDESA does not publish a price list. What is public are the awards of similar contracts on Spain's Public Sector Procurement Platform, which give a real market reference by type and size of project.
What alternatives are there to the large technology consultancies for custom development in Spanish public authorities?
The alternative is the certified mid-sized company: suppliers with ENS certification issued by a body accredited by ENAC (Spain's national accreditation body) and ISO 27001, which work with an in-house team and no account structure. They meet the same technical requirements of the tender documents as a large integrator, give direct access to the people doing the development and keep the same team from start to finish. They fit contracts worth tens or a few hundred thousand euros, which is where a large consultancy adds least and costs most in management overhead. To choose between them, ask for the current ENS certificate and its scope, references for comparable projects in public bodies and the names of the team that will deliver the contract. CEDESA is one of those companies, with projects for SAREB, Navantia, Metro Bilbao and several provincial councils.
Custom software versus a standard ERP in the public sector · How to write technical specifications that require ENS certification · What the ENS is and how to check that your supplier is certified · Talk to us about a project