Defence Online

The current contract for Computer-related services – Framework Lead is projected to end on 23-JAN-19 and may be available for retender. DOJ – PSNI – Core IT Managed Services.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is seeking to procure the provision of Managed Services for its Core IT requirements. The Core IT Managed Service tower will include the management of Hosting Services and provision of Application Support Services, along with Desktop, Laptop and Peripherals and Service Desk requirements, all of which will support the PSNI’s core function of ‘Keeping People Safe’. The Core IT Managed Services contract will cover the following 4 service areas:
1. Service Desk The PSNI Service Desk currently operates on a 24/7 (see note below) basis as the single point of contact between the service provider and all business users within the organisation. The Service Desk answers in excess of 9 000 calls a month and attempts to resolve 65 % of all calls within 30 minutes of receipt. The Service Desk deals with a number of password resets and provides an auditable record of all incidents and calls, their progression and resolution, in line with ITIL best practice. The successful contractor will be required to operate and manage the PSNI Service Desk. Tenderers should also refer to the Optional and Additional services detailed below as well as the procurement documents available within the eTendersNI portal where further detail and explanation of the requirements is provided. (24/7 note – The operating hours of the Service Desk may be reduced to reflect the restructuring under the Service First initiative which is an initiative to review demand and competing priorities with a view to developing a framework allowing the PSNI to fulfil its duty to protect life, maintain public confidence and contribute to community safety whilst dealing with the reality of a reduction in officer numbers. As a result, the operating hours of the Service Desk may change to reflect any such hours as is deemed appropriate by the PSNI).
2. Desktops, Laptops and Peripherals (DLP) The DLP function which the successful contractor will be expected to carry out includes support for hardware or operating software running on computing devices. PC’s, laptops, tablet devices, printers, fax machines and scanners and/or any other such devices or peripherals that carry out similar or equal functions and as may be required by the PSNI. Requirements include the supply of hardware and operating software, configuration changes, installations, moves and changes of equipment, rolling upgrade of all devices, installation, management and updating of build images, software installation, patch management, driver installation, data management, antivirus protection, encryption of all devices and market standard requirements that may become necessary. Tenderers should also refer to the Optional and Additional services detailed below as well as the procurement documents available within the eTendersNI portal where further detail and explanation of the requirements is provided.
3. Hosting Services The PSNI data centres run in excess of 170 key business applications. It is a highly, but not totally, virtualised environment comprising 425 virtual servers and 163 physical servers both Wintel and non-Wintel. The service also maintains resilience and back up of all data and systems. This service ensures all deployments, security audits, database administration, patching and anti-virus is carried out and is up to date. This will include:
– Hardware and operating system monitoring, maintenance, repair and support. Database administration, web support, and storage management. Monitoring and maintenance of two data centres and associated hardware and software, backup and restore services, security auditing and Firewall Management. Monitoring, maintenance and support of the virtualised environment, hardware and software refresh, ITIL level support up to and including level 4, and WEEE recycling.
– Breakfix
– Focused on servers and storage.
– Physical and Virtual Platform support and maintenance with the management of hardware and software architecture in order to allow applications to operate. – Platforms can include one or several of the following hardware and/or software components:
– hardware architecture; operating systems; programming languages and frameworks; runtime libraries; application servers; databases; other middle-ware products. The infrastructure supported by the successful contractor must accommodate the maintenance of a high availability environment which hosts all PSNI applications and storage. Additionally all areas must respond effectively to any major incidents, such as a major malware attack or significant problem with a corporate application to minimise any loss of service. Tenderers should also refer to the Optional and Additional services detailed below as well as the procurement documents available within the eTendersNI portal where further detail and explanation of the requirements is provided.
4. Application Support This service deals with any incidents related to a number of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and bespoke applications and provides a mechanism for system development and configuration changes for a number of systems. A full list of current systems is provided in the Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD). The successful contractor will provide support for specific business applications such as HR, Payroll, Finance, Fleet and Electronic Documents Record Management. Further detail on the specific business applications is available within the procurement documents. Tenderers should also refer to the Optional and Additional services detailed below as well as the procurement documents available within the eTendersNI portal where further detail and explanation of the requirements is provided. Changes in Service Requirements during the Contract Term: The Services as detailed above and delivered by the successful contractor will be subject to change during the Term in order to address and remain consistent with future changes to PSNI’s operational requirements and its corresponding requirements of the ICT Managed Service. Such changes may result in increases or decreases in the scope and/or scale of the services required from the ICT Managed Service.
Such changes may involve:
– Changes to the volume of services required from the Supplier (i.e. ‘Volume Based Services’);
– Changes which result in a new services being required during the Term, which can be foreseen at the time of this procurement (‘Optional Services’); and
– Changes which cannot be identified at the time of this procurement but which may be identified and required during the Term of the contract (‘Additional Services’).
These are described further in the sections that follow: Volume Based Services: The PSNI has incorporated within the Draft Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) and Draft Project Agreement ‘Volume Based Services’ in order to provide PSNI with the flexibility to increase or decrease the volumes of such Services during the Term of the Contract in line with changes in its operational requirements and in order for the Charges for such Services to vary in line with the service volumes that are required. The Charges for such Services would be structured as Volume Based Service Charges (as described in Schedule 7.1 of the Draft Project Agreement), with the volume bands for the Services being defined and priced within the Financial Model Output Template during the competitive dialogue stage of this procurement process. Only where an increase or decrease in service volumes falls outside of the volume bands is a Change required under the Change Control Procedure, as set out in the Draft Project Agreement. Optional Services: PSNI’s ICT Strategy 2014 outlines its planned investment in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) over the period April 2014 to March 2017. This Strategy addresses maintaining existing ICT services upon which policing operations are dependent and also providing powerful, new capabilities to support continuous improvement in day to day policing and back-office functions. A key tenet of this Strategy is maintaining strong alignment between policing needs and the application of ICT, both in timeliness and value for money. This includes developing, implementing and operating new ICT initiatives which support the broader programme of business change in PSNI, thereby improving service delivery, compliance with regulations, and addressing other organisational needs. The Strategy identifies a number of priority initiatives for delivery during the 2014-17 strategy period, together with a number of Strategic Projects to be developed during the first two years of the Strategy and Candidate Projects which are to be assessed and developed from year three onwards. All such projects will progress through a project scoping, design and development process and their final implementation will be subject to there being a positive business case and allocated budgets and resources. Accordingly it is not possible for PSNI to be definitive at this stage in relation to whether and how each of these projects might impact the scope and scale of the Operational Services for the IT Managed Service in respect of: Service Desk; Desktops, Laptops and Peripherals; Hosting Services; and Applications Support. An indication of the potential impact is provided in the procurement documents. It should be noted that many of the impacts of these projects (e.g. in relation to service desk and hosting requirements) may be managed through the Volume Based Services mechanism described above and may not need to be called-off as Optional Services. PSNI has categorised as ‘Optional Services’ within the Draft ITPD and Project Agreement (which is subject to dialogue) any new service requirements that result from these projects which are not covered by the Volume Based Services mechanism described above. In addition to any new Services arising from such projects, PSNI has also incorporated a number of other Optional Services into the Draft ITPD and Project Agreement for the Core ICT Managed Services. These other Optional Services are summarised below. Tenderers should note that other potential service requirements may also be identified during the dialogue stage which relate to PSNI’s future operational requirements for the ICT Managed Service and which may subsequently also be considered for inclusion as Optional Services in the Draft Project Agreement. The Optional Services will be discussed and refined where possible during the dialogue process and PSNI will decide prior to inviting final tenders whether each of the services should be incorporated into the Draft Project Agreement as a core requirement, an Optional Service, or not at all: – Extension of the Term
– PSNI will require options to extend the initial Term of the contract for Core ICT Managed Services by up to two further periods of 24 months each (i.e. maximum total extension of 4 years) which provides for a maximum contract Term of 7 years;
– Service Desk Hours – PSNI may require a change to the hours of its Service Desk operation, for example reducing from a 24×7 services to a service which operates from 8 am to 11 pm;
– Service Desk Location – the current Service Desk is provided on PSNI premises, however PSNI may require an option to extend the PSNI network to off-site locations in the UK to facilitate remote access by the Core ICT Managed Services provider;
– NI Public Sector Enterprise Shared Services (ESS) – PSNI may in future consider the potential benefits of transferring some or all services from the CORE ICT contract to ESS at the end of the initial Term or at subsequent break points within the contract, in line with direction from the Northern Ireland Executive to extend the use of shared services in driving forward a comprehensive programme of public sector reform. Any decision to transfer services to ESS will be informed by the value for money comparison between the cost to PSNI of the CORE ICT managed Services and the benchmark cost of such services being delivered by ESS;
– NI Public Sector Shared Data Centre – the NI Civil Service is currently procuring a shared data centre to consolidate the provision of data centre services across the Civil Service and to serve other public sector organisations such as the Business Services Organisation and Translink. PSNI may in future wish to examine the potential benefits of consolidating its data centre requirements within a Public Sector Shared Data Centre, and accordingly may wish to incorporate such a change as an Optional Service within the Draft Project Agreement for the Core IT Managed Services;
– All software upgrades and hardware replacements – PSNI will examine in dialogue its approach to software upgrades and implementing hardware replacements (and potentially other periodic services of variable frequency) through the Core ICT Managed Service contract, which may result in such services being defined and structured as Optional Services within the Draft Project Agreement;
– Storage Area Network (SAN) – PSNI may need to replace its existing SAN during the Term of the Core ICT Managed Services contract and accordingly PSNI may require the Core ICT Managed Services Contractor to support the implementation of, and transition of Services to, a new SAN. Equally PSNI may require the successful contractor to provide a similar set of services in respect of the replacement and/or implementation of other elements of ICT infrastructure;
– Additional resources – PSNI may also require access to specialist ICT resources to provide expert support on the ICT projects set out in the procurement documents (or other projects identified during the term of the contract). It is envisaged that the accessing of specialist ICT resources for this purpose would also be structured as an Optional Service; and
– Offsite Provision of Services – Staff supporting Core IT Services within PSNI are currently located in PSNI Premises, however, during the dialogue phase, the Authority will be open to discussing the possibility of supplier support staff being located elsewhere offering an exclusive or shared service. The final decision on the location of support staff will be subject to:
– delivery of value for money;
– relevant security controls, operating conditions, appropriate staff vetting, audit and robust supervision being in place; -designated premises being located within the UK due to the restrictions on the distribution of cryptographic key material and the associated risks of a compromise of police information;
– the premises passing a Police Approved Secure Facility Audit (PASF). It should be noted that not all areas of Core IT Services will be capable of being supported outside PSNI premises. The timing for any such transition to an offsite solution will be subject to dialogue. When required, Optional Services will be called-off and implemented in accordance with Clauses 5.10 to 5.12 and Schedule 8.2 (Change Control Procedure) of the Draft Project Agreement. The Charges for such Optional Services would be determined using the pricing mechanism for Optional Services set out in Part B of Schedule 7.1 (Charges and Invoicing) and by reference to; the costs, service charges, profit margin limits and indexation arrangements set out in the Financial Model and in Schedule 7.1;
– the financial reports, audit rights and open book requirements set out in Schedule 7.5; and
– the Change Control Procedure set out in Schedule 8.2 of the Draft Project Agreement. Accordingly, the contract for the ICT Managed Services shall be subject to modification for ‘Optional Services’ without a new procurement procedure in accordance with Regulation 72(1)(a) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Tenderers should note that the range of services described above is the PSNI’s current view of potential Optional Services, and that other potential Optional Services may be identified in respect of the Core ICT Managed Service during the competitive dialogue procurement process. Tenderers should also note that the PSNI does not give any guarantee in relation to the extent to which it will need to call off Optional Services during the Term of the contract. -Additional Services Tenderers should note that there may also be other changes in the scope and/or scale of the Services required from the ICT Managed Service that could not be identified or foreseen at the time of this procurement but which are consistent with the overall nature of PSNI’s current and future operational requirements for Core ICT Managed Services; the Operational Services (i.e. the four service areas) described in the Draft ITPD; and the overall scope of the ICT Managed Services requirements as set out in the Draft Project Agreement. In such circumstances PSNI may seek to agree a modification to the ICT Managed Services contract through the Change Control Procedure to facilitate the provision of such services by the Supplier, with the Charges for such services set by reference to the mechanisms and protections provided in the Draft Project Agreement (as outlined above). It is envisaged that such modifications would be made without requiring a new procurement procedure in accordance with Regulation 72 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. It should be noted that CORE IT is one of three towers of IT Services – (the other two being Networks and Telephony, and Automatic Number Plate Recognition) – delivered by multiple contractors across different delivery models in one integrated enterprise service management process. The successful contractor must manage and improve any interface issues and collaborate with other contractors and the PSNI to ensure ‘end to end’ service levels are maintained and improved. The initial contract period will be 3 years (36 months) with two (2) options to extend, at the sole discretion of PSNI, each for a period of two years (24 months). All current tender documentation is provided on eTendersNI under CFT_42197.
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