Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2018-07-12
Buyer: Northern Gas Networks
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 48514000
Estimated value: 339000 GBP

Technical requirements: Brand is currently used on NGN Tough devices for Secure private connections over public Wifi and Mobile connections. ADM is used by Brand to patch the toughbook estate, install and remove software and update config etc. Toughbook patches are done monthly and patch Management is run for Windows 7 and Windows XP on all tough devices. Brand is also used on Corporate Laptops for Secure private connections over public Wifi, Home network and Mobile connections. In addition to this, part of the proposed operational security for the SCADA network is to provide a secure connection between SCADA workstations and SCADA servers. This is central to the solution endorsed by National Cyber Security Centre as part of the deployment within AWS for a SCADA control network. This additional functionality will be built onto the existing Brand solution with dedicated infrastructure within AWS, replacement for our traditional PSTN/ISDN solution. This product will ensure additional communication on the field.
Brand is currently used on all NGN Tough devices for Secure private connections over public Wifi and Mobile connections. ADM is used by Brand to patch the toughbook estate, install and remove software and update config etc. These toughbook patches are done monthly and patch Management is run for both Windows 7 and Windows XP (Virtual Machine) on all tough devices. Brand is also used on NGN Corporate Laptops for Secure private connections over public Wifi, Home network and Mobile connections.
In addition to the above, part of the proposed operational security for the SCADA network is to provide a secure connection between SCADA workstations and SCADA servers. This is central to the solution endorsed by National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) as part of the deployment within AWS for a SCADA control network. This additional functionality will be built onto the existing Brand solution with dedicated infrastructure within AWS. Replacement for our traditional PSTN/ISDN solution. This remote product will ensure additional communication out in the field.
Replacing Brand would require deployment of a new VPN product and infrastructure for the Tough devices. In addition to this, deployment of new infrastructure for the Brand replacement would be required. This would be considerable effort with associated costs from infrastructure replacement/extension of our existing management platform for the Tough devices. Implementation of VPN client and associated software for the all NGN laptops. Change in design and deployment for secure SCADA connectivity would be required, potentially impacting our System control go live deadlines. A change in design and deployment for a remoteware replacement in time before the product license renewal would also be required. Brand licences are linked to all Brand interfaces with NGN (present and future) and to not renew these licences would mean that NGN would have to remove existing BRAND infrastructure. Therefore there is a need to extend our agreement with BRAND to save NGN spending time and money that has been spent on building our current infrastructure to replace this with a new solution.


Winner: Brand Communications
Award value: 339000