Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-12-04
Buyer: The Minister for the Cabinet Office acting through Crown Commercial Service
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 30211100 | 30211300 | 48000000 | 48211000 | 48620000: Operating systems
Estimated value: 750000000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2021-01-14
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Crown Commercial Service as the contracting authority is putting in place a Pan Government Collaborative Framework Agreement for use by UK public sector bodies identified at VI.3) (and any future successors to these organisations), which include Central Government Departments and their arm’s length bodies and agencies, non departmental public bodies, NHS bodies and local authorities. This will be a route to market for eligible user organisations to procure their scalable cloud hosting requirements as more specifically described in section II.2.4).
The main purpose of this framework agreement is to put in place a route for UK public sector organisations (Buyers) to buy their Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) requirements directly from the owners of public cloud platforms (Suppliers).
The scope is necessarily restricted to ‘pure’ compute requirements which do not require additional services such as design, detailed configuration, tailoring or any ongoing management or professional services to assist with data migration in/out. The services can most simply and usefully be thought of as a commodity ‘utility’ service where Buyers connect to and and use the Supplier’s platform and processing resources for their own requirements, subject to acceptable use policies and compliance with law. Examples could include the development of new software applications or to manipulate large sets of data such as weather prediction or modelling medical scenarios, and particularly the ability for the services to be rapidly scalable at short notice.
This framework agreement will offer self-serve functionality to Buyers with the protection of appropriate and robust contract conditions which have been specially developed for this purpose.
Bidders should note the following key requirements to participate in the procurement of this framework agreement:
1) you must have full and exclusive control of the infrastructure which underpins the platform used to provide the services;
2) you must use the Public Cloud Deployment Model here: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-145.pdf to provide the services;
3) you must be capable of providing the services primarily from within the UK (where specifically required by Buyers);
5) you must provide one example of a contract where you have delivered services using the Public Cloud Deployment Model to a customer organisation (public or private sector) in Europe during the last 3 years.
With reference to II.2.7) please note the duration of the framework agreement will be a maximum of 48 months, with the first term being 24 months, with a possible extension of 2 (two) 12-month periods.
Candidates will be assessed in accordance with section 5 of the 2015 Public Contract Regulations (implementing the directive) on the basis of information provided in response to an Invitation to Tender (ITT) registering for access.
As part of this contract notice the following documents can be accessed at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a7f78749-40d7-4c19-a265-4489ad156521
On 2 April 2014 Government introduced its Government Security Classifications (GSC) scheme which replaced Government Protective Marking Scheme (GPMS). A key aspect is the reduction in the number of security classifications used. All bidders should make themselves aware of the changes as it may impact this requirement. This link provides information on the GSC at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-classifications
Cyber essentials is a mandatory requirement for Central Government contracts which involve handling personal information or provide certain ICT products/services. Government is taking steps to reduce the levels of cyber security risk in its supply chain through the Cyber essentials scheme. The scheme defines a set of controls which, when implemented, will provide organisations with basic protection from the most prevalent forms of threat coming from the internet. To participate in this procurement, bidders must be able to demonstrate they comply with the technical requirements prescribed by cyber essentials, for services under and in connection with this procurement.
All certificates issued prior to 1 April 2020 or before 30 June 2020 on the existing scheme are valid until 30 June 2021. This includes those issued by accreditation bodies other than IASME.

Eligibility requirements: Candidates will be assessed in accordance with section 5 of the 2015 Public Contract Regulations (implementing the directive) on the basis of information provided in response to an Invitation to Tender (ITT) registering for access.

Award value: 750000000