Tender

ID 3534429 - DoF - Purchase of patching product for non-Microsoft products on desktop clients

  • Department of Finance

F02: Contract notice

Notice identifier: 2021/S 000-022079

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-02ddae

Published 6 September 2021, 4:35pm



Section one: Contracting authority

one.1) Name and addresses

Department of Finance

Digital Shared Services, Craigantlet Buildings, Stormont Estate

BELFAST

BT4 3SX

Contact

SSDAdmin.CPDfinance-ni.gov.uk

Email

SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

UK - United Kingdom

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps

Buyer's address

https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps

one.3) Communication

The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at

https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps

Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address

Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via

https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps

one.4) Type of the contracting authority

Body governed by public law

one.5) Main activity

General public services


Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

ID 3534429 - DoF - Purchase of patching product for non-Microsoft products on desktop clients

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

IT Assist has responsibility for the delivery of common IT systems and services to support the business objectives of the 9 Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) Departments and approximately 40 Arms-Length organisations. Services are delivered to approximately 28000 NICS staff and customers located across Northern Ireland. One of the services is the supply, management and security of client desktop/laptops for customers to use for the execution of their business. IT Assist currently use Microsoft SCCM 2019 for the management and security patching of all client desktop and laptops. SCCM is used to scan and apply the required patches for all Microsoft products on the clients and a small number of 3rd party products security patches are applied for example Adobe. For the 3rd party applications a SCCM package has to be developed each time containing the latest patch and pushed out to every desktop. IT Assist has identified a need for a product that will allow them to more efficiently manage the security patching of the large number of 3rd party applications that are in use while maintaining the well embedded SCCM client infrastructure. IT Assist requires a 5 year contract (3 years initial with 2 optional extension years) for the supply and delivery of a patch management system to integrate into the SCCM environment that will allow clients to have 3rd party non Microsoft products security patched. Please see document entitled “ID 3534429– Specification Schedule” for full details of the requirement”.

two.1.5) Estimated total value

Value excluding VAT: £250,000

two.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

two.2) Description

two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)

  • 48700000 - Software package utilities
  • 48800000 - Information systems and servers
  • 72260000 - Software-related services
  • 48000000 - Software package and information systems

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UKN - Northern Ireland

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

IT Assist has responsibility for the delivery of common IT systems and services to support the business objectives of the 9 Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) Departments and approximately 40 Arms-Length organisations. Services are delivered to approximately 28000 NICS staff and customers located across Northern Ireland. One of the services is the supply, management and security of client desktop/laptops for customers to use for the execution of their business. IT Assist currently use Microsoft SCCM 2019 for the management and security patching of all client desktop and laptops. SCCM is used to scan and apply the required patches for all Microsoft products on the clients and a small number of 3rd party products security patches are applied for example Adobe. For the 3rd party applications a SCCM package has to be developed each time containing the latest patch and pushed out to every desktop. IT Assist has identified a need for a product that will allow them to more efficiently manage the security patching of the large number of 3rd party applications that are in use while maintaining the well embedded SCCM client infrastructure. IT Assist requires a 5 year contract (3 years initial with 2 optional extension years) for the supply and delivery of a patch management system to integrate into the SCCM environment that will allow clients to have 3rd party non Microsoft products security patched. Please see document entitled “ID 3534429– Specification Schedule” for full details of the requirement”.

two.2.5) Award criteria

Price

two.2.6) Estimated value

Value excluding VAT: £250,000

two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system

Duration in months

60

This contract is subject to renewal

Yes

Description of renewals

This contract will be potentially be due to be re-procured after 3-5 years

two.2.10) Information about variants

Variants will be accepted: Yes

two.2.11) Information about options

Options: Yes

Description of options

After the initial contract period of 3 years there are two optional extension periods of 1 year each

two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.1) Type of procedure

Open procedure

four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes

four.2) Administrative information

four.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

Date

8 October 2021

Local time

3:00pm

four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted

English

four.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender

Tender must be valid until: 6 January 2022

four.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders

Date

8 October 2021

Local time

3:30pm


Section six. Complementary information

six.1) Information about recurrence

This is a recurrent procurement: No

six.3) Additional information

The successful contractor’s performance on this contract will be managed as per the specification and regularly monitored (see. Procurement Guidance Note 01/12 — Contract Management — Procedures and Principles). Contractors not delivering on contract. requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory. levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach satisfactory. levels of contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in CPD for further action. If this occurs and their. performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional. misconduct and they may be issued with a notice of unsatisfactory performance and this contract may be terminated. A central register. of such notices for supplies and services contracts will be maintained and published on the CPD website. Any contractor in receipt of a.. notice of unsatisfactory performance will be required to declare this in future tender submissions for a period of 3 years from the date of. issue of the notice. It may also result in the contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken. by Centres. of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy. The authority expressly reserves the. rights: (i) not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice; (ii) to make whatever. changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the tendering competition; (iii) to award (a) contract(s) in respect of any part(s) of. the (services) covered by this notice; and (iv) to award contract(s) in stages and in no circumstances will the authority be liable for any. costs incurred by candidates.

six.4) Procedures for review

six.4.1) Review body

The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement competitions. Instead; any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the PCR 2015.

United Kingdom

Country

United Kingdom

six.4.3) Review procedure

Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures

CPD will comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and, where appropriate, will incorporate a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract is. communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. This provides time for the unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into..