Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2025-03-12
Buyer: Kerry Education and Training Board
Country: IE
Region: IE053
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 72600000
Submission deadline: 2025-04-15

Technical requirements: Kerry Education and Training Board (Kerry ETB) is seeking the services of a suitable qualified ICT Service Partner to support the IT requirements of all of Kerry ETBs infrastructure and to provide one ICT technician to Head Office at Centrepoint, John Joe Sheehy Road, Tralee, Co. Kerry and one ICT technician to service the Post-Primary Schools (8) and Primary (4) Schools.

Statement Of Objectives:

The following are the high-level ICT objectives for Kerry ETB and should be borne in mind when responding.
• Access to a secure and scalable ICT environment designed to meets IT needs.
• The implementation of ICT solutions across Kerry ETB which are robust, with high availability.
• To apply best practice in proactive management and monitoring of ICT services across Kerry ETB.
• To apply best practice in ICT Service design and delivery across Kerry ETB.
• To ensure that all ICT systems meet the requirements of the Cybersecurity Baseline Standards.
The successful tenderer will be required to:
1. Assign a Project Manager and
2. Appoint a Level 2 (or equivalent) Technical Resource who will be assigned full time, on site to Kerry ETB Head Office.
3. Appoint a suitably qualified, experienced, ICT Technician to meet the needs of all the Kerry ETB Post-Primary Schools (8) and Primary (4) Schools in an on-site mobile capacity to travel between sites.

The successful tenderer must ensure that all resources assigned to this project have the technical skill set and experience required to maintain and manage the Kerry ETB sites, and to interpret and implement requests from sites in a timely, controlled and secure manner.

The work involved will require the individuals to draw upon previous experience, coupled with an innovative and creative approach to technical problem solving. This is a highly pressurized support area with the highest quality expectations from the user community.

Kerry Education and Training Board requirements: 

• Provide a solution to meet the needs of a large, geographically dispersed organisation and must be able to ensure 99.9% up time on identified critical ICT Systems including but not limited to Servers, Switches, Firewalls, Content filtering, SQL Server, Backup and Recovery system, Communications systems, Finance payment processing PCs in the Kerry ETB sites within the scope of the contract. 
• Support and maintain the Kerry ETB IT Estate, including but not limited to all software, hardware, backups, Wi-Fi, printing, cloud (Office 365), security infrastructure (incl. SPAM outbreak, virus, cyber-attack, systems failure etc.), networks (LAN/WAN) etc. 
• Progress the development of standards based architecture for Kerry ETB including but not limited to; Servers / Network / Security / Structures / Work Methods / Imaging / Wiring / Backups / Communications (including Wi-Fi)/ Policies etc. for the Kerry ETB sites. 
• Take responsibility for the installation, configuration, management, maintenance and administration of all systems on a day-to-day basis including but not limited to: Networks infrastructure, updates and patches, servers, desktops, laptops, mobile phones, desk phones and servers. 
• Deliver proactive monitoring and preventative maintenance of all in-scope systems and services. Identify potential performance, capacity and security issues, with the aim of resolving them before the issues impact on services to users. 
• Manage the administration of the Kerry ETB Office 365 accounts for new or outgoing students and staff including mailbox management and SharePoint access. 
• Provide a solution for Software deployment including OS imaging and physical hardware installations. 
• Identify any part of the ICT Contract that you would propose to outsource and outline how the management of outsourced parts will operate, detailing how out of hours/ emergency services would be provided, and to liaise with all relevant 3rd parties to resolve hardware and software issues as required. 
• Carry out the safe disposal and decommissioning of ICT equipment in line with Kerry ETB Equipment Policy. 
• Provide an alerts system and response for system failure or breach during office Hours and Out of Office hours. 
• The successful tenderer will from time to time be required to review a new site and outline the requirements in line with the Kerry ETB ICT Strategy and also provide a cost based on agreed rates for the commissioning of the new site.

Kerry Education and Training Board (Kerry ETB) reserves the right to extend the scope of this contract to include additional Further Education and Training (FET) facilities as required. Furthermore, Kerry ETB may, at its discretion, appoint a resource person and/or technician under the terms of this contract at a later date. Any such additions or appointments will be made in accordance with the conditions set out in this tender and in line with Kerry ETB’s operational requirements.