Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-11-03
Buyer: HM Revenue and Customs
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 48223000 | 48511000 | 48517000 | 64210000 | 64212000
Estimated value: 9750000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2020-11-30
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: This is to alert interested parties that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is going out to tender to meet its needs for the provision of Multi Factor Authentication, Email and SMS campaigns and Multi Device Messaging. Note this notice supersedes the previous OJEU ref: 2020/S 132-325171.
The Authority is looking to identify a Supplier to take on and transform the existing services including; MFA SMS (OTP) and Voice Calling, outbound email and SMS capabilities (including multi device messaging), currently supported by multiple Suppliers. This new combined email and text service will be a part of a range of Communication Services that will support The Authority’s strategy of communicating with the right customer at the right time through the right channel. Currently approximately 94 million SMS, 8 million voice calls and 220 million emails are issued per annum on behalf of HMRC.
The current scope for the SMS and Voice Calling as part of the Multi-Factor Authentication service is:
• to send a unique six (6) digit access code to a customer. The Authority will be responsible for the creation and duration of the validity of any access code e.g. 15 minutes;
• the SMS is sent using a single unique short code / unique Sender ID associated with The Authority – this must be provided by the Supplier.
Phase 2: We are looking to exploit the top quartile capabilities provided in the solution to develop new and innovative ways of communicating with our customers, whether that be on a 121 or 1 to many basis, in a way that work seamlessly and through standard interfaces where necessary with The Authority’s other Communication and Communication management services.
HMRC requires potential providers to comply with the relevant essential requirements below or equivalent:
d) CHECK approved Pen Testers on an annual basis or such time as both Parties agree, for both internal and external system IP’s. Tested to OWASP latest guidelines,
HMRC reserves the right to make services procured available to other publicly funded bodies including RCDTS, its wholly owned subsidiary company working on behalf of HMRC.
**This contract is for a period of 24 months with approx. value of GBP 6.5m with the provision to extend for a further 12 month term, total value of 24 month term with 12 month extension approx. GBP 9.75m**
The Authority shall have the right to, at its sole discretion, to extend the initial Term for one period of no more than twelve (12) months by giving the supplier no less than three (3) months' written notice before the end of the Initial Term (or any extension period which has already been notified to the Supplier by the Authority, as appropriate).
The authority will be using an e-sourcing (eTendering) tool/application for this procurement. This prevents any information provided by the applicant or tenderer from being viewed by the authority until the eSourcing event is closed. The e-sourcing (e-tendering) application will display the closing date/time within the event and automatically close the event when the time is reached. Once the event is closed only personnel who have access to the event within the system will be able to open and view tender responses. Therefore, the opening time for tenders will coincide with the close date and time for the event and all tenders will become visible to personnel who have access to the event within the system.
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.
Economic operators who wish to view the tender documentation electronically can do so by searching on the Contracts Finder website: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search login 48 hours after the dispatch of this notice. HMRC uses an HMRC instance of SAP Ariba Sourcing Pro (thereafter referred to as HMRC’s SAP Ariba) and this must be used to express an interest and/or bid for the opportunity. (Further information about HMRC’s SAP Ariba is available on the HMRC website: www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/supplying.htm) Economic operators who have used HMRC’s SAP Ariba previously will be registered as part of the HMRC Ariba Supplier Network and you should access the system to obtain your account ID number. Contact details on the system should be checked and, where necessary, additional users added to help avoid multiple registrations for the same organisation. Previously registered users having difficulty recovering their account ID number or identifying users within their organisation should email for assistance sapariba.hmrcsupport@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk Economic operators using HMRC’s SAP Ariba for the first time, including suppliers who are already registered on the wider SAP Ariba supplier network, will need to register at http://hmrc.supplier-eu.ariba.com/ad/register/SSOActions?type=full. (You must ensure that you are directed to the registration page for HMRC’s SAP Ariba, identified with the HMRC logo at the top of the page, and to do this you may need to cut and paste the web address directly into your web browser). You will receive a system generated email asking you to activate your SAP Ariba supplier account by verifying your email address. Once you have completed the activation process you will receive a further email confirming the ‘registration process is now complete’ and providing you with ‘your organisation’s account ID’ number. If an email response from HMRC is not received within one working day of your request, please re-contact sapariba.hmrcsupport@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk (after first checking your spam in-box) notifying non-receipt and confirming when your registration request was first made.
Once you have obtained ‘your account ID’ number, please email baljinder.sall@hmrc.gov.uk and liam.osborn@hmrc.gov.uk with the following information as confirmation that you wish to express an interest and/or bid for the opportunity.


Award value: 9750000