Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2020-04-07
Buyer: NHS Wales Informatics Service
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 71356300 | 72000000 | 72250000: System and support services | 72261000: Software support services | 72611000: Technical computer support services
Estimated value: 1724070 GBP

Technical requirements: Υπηρεσίες τεχνολογίας των πληροφοριών: παροχή συμβουλών, ανάπτυξη λογισμικού, Διαδίκτυο και υποστήριξη
The purpose of this requirement is to provide appropriate and experienced resources from a third party supplier to roll out the Office 365 Suite to NHS Wales staff. This requirement has been expedited and escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic as the current working from home arrangements are not sufficient to sustain the volume of staff who now require the ability to work from home.
The scope of the procurement is the provision of a team of specialist resources to undertake the roll out of Office 365 and other technical work required to be undertaken. The objective of this procurement is to make working from home using Office 365 for NHS Trust staff across Wales resilient as the effects of COVID-19 develop. By adopting this approach a resilient service will be provided to those working from home to undertake their daily activities. Other aspects of the solution to be rolled out included applications to manage communication to all staff in relation to latest news on COVID 19, a self-diagnosis tool to ease pressure on NHS Wales and Frequently asked questions. The contract is for a period of 9 months with an option to extend for a 3-month period i.e. up to 12 months in total.
Given the nature of the work and critical need to deploy resources to enable the use of software, it is considered that the exemptions allowed under Regulation 32(2)(c) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 apply:
(c) insofar as is strictly necessary where, for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority, the time limits for the open or restricted procedures or competitive procedures with negotiation cannot be complied with the circumstances invoked to justify extreme urgency must not in any event be attributable to the contracting authority.
1) There are genuine reasons for extreme urgency — the need to respond to the COVID-19 consequences immediately because of public health risks, loss of existing provision at short notice. This is a reaction to a current situation that is a genuine emergency.
2) The events that have led to the need for extreme urgency were unforeseeable — the COVID-19 situation is so novel that the consequences are not something that should have predicted.
3) It is impossible to comply with the usual timescales in the PCRs. There is no time to run an accelerated procurement under the open or restricted procedures or competitive procedures with negotiation, there is no time to place a call off contract under an existing commercial agreement such as a framework or dynamic purchasing system.
4) The situation is not attributable to the contracting authority — the Authority have not done anything to cause or contribute to the need for extreme urgency.
The COVID and Office 365 National Team urgently need to assemble as a co-located, dedicated team tasked with enabling NHS Wales staff to work remotely through the COVID-19 Emergency.
The scope of work to be completed by the team was initially planned to be a controlled rollout of the functions within the Office 365 and M365 licenses already procured for staff, across all LHBs and Trusts over the next financial year. COVID-19 now means that for the foreseeable future, this team’s work will need to pivot to meet the urgent requirements for innovative technical solutions to support NHS staff through the emergency.
In addition, given that Office 365 underpins a fully mobile workforce, the importance of an accurate and speedy rollout has increased dramatically with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the UK in general and specifically, the NHS.
Acceleration of the programme is now critically important to provide an essential business continuity function for staff while the country enters an uncertain phase of self-isolation and social distancing.


Winner: Red Cortex Ltd
Award value: 1724070