Scope
Reference
Bravo Project Number 43571
Description
This project is for a single partner to provide data centre infrastructure services (DCIS).
The scope of the contract covers services needed to support NRIL's data centre infrastructure hosted within data centres, LAN/Edge compute rooms and Cloud Platforms. It includes networks (LAN and WAN), platforms, mainframe, servers, specified applications including tools and services required to effectively operate the infrastructure.
Total value (estimated)
- £185,300,000 excluding VAT
- £222,360,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 9 December 2026 to 10 October 2033
- 6 years, 10 months, 2 days
Options
The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid.
Optional Capex Projects and Great British Rail transition services.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 72222300 - Information technology services
- 48800000 - Information systems and servers
- 72267100 - Maintenance of information technology software
- 72223000 - Information technology requirements review services
Contract locations
- UK - United Kingdom
Participation
This procurement is reserved for
Supported employment providers
Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation
Please refer to PSQ documentation and Appendices in the Bravo portal.
Technical ability conditions of participation
Please refer to PSQ documentation and Appendices in the Bravo portal.
Submission
Enquiry deadline
26 September 2025, 1:00pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
10 October 2025, 4:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Suppliers to be invited to tender
2 to 5 suppliers
Selection criteria:
Conditions of participation
Award decision date (estimated)
12 October 2026
Recurring procurement
Publication date of next tender notice (estimated): 12 October 2026
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical | The below Award Criteria shall be weighted against 65% overall Technical Weighting. Transition Delivery - 13% Service Operations & Governance - 40% Transformation & Optimisation - 15% Innovation - 5%... |
Quality | 65% |
| Commercial | The below Award Criteria shall be weighted against 35% overall Commercial Weighting. Base charges, base catalogue charges, transition and exit charges - 57% Rate card - 11% Transformation & Project... |
Price | 35% |
Other information
Payment terms
Payment Structure
• Payments will be made periodically per Network Rail's Railway Period (every 4 weeks).
Invoicing and Payment Timelines
• Network Rail will pay valid, undisputed invoices within 28 days of receipt.
• Supplier must flow down prompt payment terms (28 days) to its supply chain.
Please refer to the Procurement Documents for full details.
Description of risks to contract performance
1. Technology Risks
• Data Centre Infrastructure: Risks of physical security breaches, unauthorised access, inadequate audit controls, and failure in onsite sparing or equipment management.
• Mainframe & Platforms: Risks of service outages, backup failures, data loss, or insufficient monitoring and alerting.
• Patch Management: Risks of delayed or failed patch deployment, vulnerabilities due to unpatched systems, and errors in automated/manual patching.
• Technical Services: Risks of insufficiently certified technical resources, tooling failures, and lack of scalability or automation.
2. Network and Security Infrastructure Risks
• DC Networks: Risks of network outages, poor interconnectivity, third-party coordination failures, and WAN/LAN service disruptions.
• Perimeter Security: Risks of firewall misconfiguration, security breaches, and lack of certified network resources.
3. Application Support Risks
• Enterprise Job Scheduler: Risks of workflow automation failures, impacting business process continuity.
• Operational Support Systems: Risks of inadequate Tier 3 support, misconfiguration, or delayed updates.
• Siebel Support: Risks of application downtime, data integrity issues, and multi-server coordination failures.
4. Service Management Risks
• Availability & Capacity Management: Risks of poor performance, capacity shortfalls, and unidentified risks.
• Compliance & Information Security: Risks of non-compliance with standards, security incidents, inadequate staff vetting, and failure in digital access control.
• IT Service Continuity: Risks of ineffective disaster recovery/business continuity planning and testing.
• Service Level Management: Risks of unmet service expectations and lack of service improvement.
5. Service Transition Risks
• E-bonding & Change Management: Risks of failed data transfer, unauthorised changes, inadequate change management, and insufficiently skilled change teams.
• Knowledge & Release Management: Risks of incomplete or inaccurate knowledge transfer, poor release planning, and failed service take-on.
6. Service Operation Risks
• Event & Incident Management: Risks of poor event logging, delayed incident resolution, inadequate communication, and lack of accountability.
• Problem & Request Fulfilment: Risks of unresolved problems, poor collaboration, and delayed service requests.
• Third Party Management: Risks of SLA breaches, poor supplier coordination, and service continuity failures.
7. Continual Service Improvement Risks
• Risks of ineffective CSI initiatives, lack of monitoring, and failure to implement recommendations.
8. Governance and Reporting Risks
• Risks of inadequate governance frameworks, poor service reporting, and non-compliance in reporting.
9. Social Value Risks
• Risks of failing to meet social value targets (jobs, skills, education), EDI requirements, SME engagement, ESG compliance, and sustainability obligations.
10. Delivery Risks
• Project Services: Risks of project delays, poor quality assurance, non-compliance with processes, and inadequate risk/issue management.
• Skilled Resources: Risks of insufficient architectural or enhancement resources, poor onboarding/offboarding, and lack of testing support.
• Third Party Management: Risks of poor operational management and reporting.
11. Transition Risks
• Risks of poor programme management, service readiness failures, inadequate knowledge transfer, asset/configuration management issues, and reduction in service performance during transition.
12. Transformation Risks
• Risks of failing to identify or deliver efficiency improvements, poor collaboration, and strategy misalignment.
13. Exit Risks
• Risks of inadequate exit planning, poor knowledge transfer, and disruption at contract end.
14. Optional Scope Risks
• Risks of poor flexibility in service take-on, inability to scale for industry transformation, and failure to support public cloud or future integration needs.
15. Legal & Compliance Risks
• Risks of non-compliance with contract management guidelines, failure to meet SLA/accountability requirements, lack of transparency in pricing, and inability to rapidly deploy certified security services.
These are risks which the Authority considers could jeopardise the satisfactory performance of the contract, but because of their nature, may not be capable of being addressed in the contract as awarded (noting that this is a competitive flexible procedure and technical dialogue and commercial negotiation are anticipated). Accordingly, these are risks that may require a subsequent modification of the contract under paragraph 5 of Schedule 8 of PA23.
Applicable trade agreements
- Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
- Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Special regime
Utilities
Competitive flexible procedure description
Competitive Flexible Procedure
Description of stages: -
PSQ Return
Internal PSQ Evaluation
Down selection of 5 suppliers
Confidentiality Agreement execution with 5 shortlisted suppliers
ITT Publication
Clarification Sessions
ITT Responses Close
Internal ITT Evaluation
Internal ITT Moderation
ITT Supplier Presentations
Negotiation Stage 1
Negotiation Stage 2
Best and Final Offers
Award Stage
Documents
Documents to be provided after the tender notice
Publication of the PSQ shall be issued via Bravo. Web address is as follows: - https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html
Documents to be published using Bravo: -
Instruction to Participants
Appendix A - Procurement Terms and Conditions
Appendix B - Conditions of Participation Criteria - PSQ
Appendix C - Tender Criteria ITT
Appendix D - Glossary
Appendix E - Overview of Requirements
Appendix Ea - Business Requirements Document
Appendix Eb - Requirements Catalogue
Appendix F - Confidentiality Agreement
Appendix G - Terms and Conditions
Contracting authority
NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PNZN-9524-VCQJ
Waterloo General Office
London
SE1 8SW
United Kingdom
Contact name: Sonia Diosee
Telephone: +447957726915
Email: sonia.diosee@networkrail.co.uk
Website: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/
Region: UKI45 - Lambeth
Organisation type: Public authority - central government