Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2019-08-22
Buyer: Tower Hamlets Community Housing Ltd
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Restricted procedure
CPV classification: 30211300 | 72222300: Information technology services | 72250000: System and support services | 72253000: Helpdesk and support services
Submission deadline: 2019-09-20
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Procurement of a new IT infrastructure and managed support service for Tower Hamlets Community Housing.
Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH) currently has an IT Managed Service contract which, in 2013, delivered a new infrastructure based on VMware and Citrix desktop. The supplier has hosted this in a colocation data centre and provides a disaster recovery service should the CoLocation service fail. The supplier has provided a full support wrap providing first, second and third line support with a limited number of third-party second and third line supporting contracts (e.g. for the telephone system). This has included both regular on-site attendance by both engineering and applications staff.
This contract expires in 2020 and THCH is now seeking to renew this contract to deliver a similar range of services including a refresh of expired IT hardware.
The scope of the contract will include all services provided by the current supplier, as detailed above.
The key elements will be a refresh of hardware assets (which may be delivered as customer owned assets in CoLocation Data Centre, public cloud, private cloud, or a hybrid of some of all of these. The supplier selected will be required demonstrate capabilities in both the provision of the infrastructure and the ongoing first, second and third line support services
The key objective is to provide continuity of the IT service to THCH users. However, THCH also expects the need for technology to change significantly over the contract term and the selected supplier will be expected to work with THCH to deliver innovation including digital services for staff and customers, smart homes, improved use of data assets and business intelligence and other initiatives to support THCH communities.
The contract with the successful bidder shall last for an initial period of four (4) years, with an option to extend at THCH’s sole discretion for a further three (3) periods of one (1) year each, giving a total potential term of up to seven (7) years.
The contracting authority considers that this contract may be suitable for economic operators that are small or medium enterprises (SMEs). However, any selection of tenderers will be based solely on the criteria set out for the procurement.
This tender opportunity is being administered on behalf of Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH) by Clarity Procurement Solutions Ltd.
— download and read the draft invitation to tender document to familiarise yourselves with THCH's requirements,
— submit a completed selection questionnaire in accordance with the selection questionnaire instructions, noting the submission deadline of 12.00 on 20.9.2019.
Potential applicants must not complete or submit the draft invitation to tender document at this stage. The draft invitation to tender document is for information only at this stage.
Implementation of the new contract is anticipated to commence on 1.1.2020. Service provision is anticipated to commence on 1.9.2020.
The contracting authority will enter into this contract following a minimum 10 calendar days standstill period starting on the day after the notification of the result. The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/02) (as amended) (the Regulations) provide for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or who are at risk of harm by a breach of the Regulations to bring proceedings in the High Court. Any such proceedings must be brought within the limitation period specified by the Regulations according to the remedy sought.

Eligibility requirements: Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents.