2. contents
01. Purpose 03
02. Background 04
03. Services Available 05
04. Eligibility 08
05. Agreement Duration and Value 09
06. Benefits 10
07. How to use 11
08. Pre-market Engagement 12
09. Competition 14
10. Evaluation Criteria 15
11. Concluding your procurement 16
12. Management information 17
13. Customer Benefit Realisation 18
14. Case Study 19
15. Key performance indicators 20
Annex A - Supplier matrix 21
3. 1 Purpose
The purpose of this document is to:
• Outline the background information relating
to how the Agreement was established,
identify some of the drivers for the Agreement
and describe customers who are eligible to
access the Agreement;
• Provide guidance on how to access and use
the Technology Services Agreement;
• Provide details on the information that is
required to be provided when entering into a
call-off contract under the Agreement.
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4. 04
2 Background
2.1 This Agreement has been developed in
collaboration with Government Digital
Services (GDS). It is an enabler for public
sector organisations to take significant
steps towards the “Digital by Default”
agenda.
Its primary purpose is to provide
technology services to central government,
local authorities and NHS trusts.
This Agreement includes specialist
suppliers who can provide services under
individual Lots as well as suppliers who
can provide multiple services across a
number of Lots, commercially bound
together under a collaboration agreement.
SMEs have been encouraged to
participate in this Agreement by
disaggregation of IT managed services
and offering the services in separate Lots.
2.2 The procurement to establish this
Agreement followed the EU Open
Procedure. Those bidders that
demonstrated an ability to meet the
requirements in each Lot and achieved
the minimum pass mark criteria, included
within the qualification stage, and were
awarded inclusion on the Agreement.
This Agreement provides you with a route
to market without the need to publish
your requirements by OJEU or pre-qualify
suppliers in order to procure services
from them.
You may place call-off contracts via a
further competition; where you conduct a
mini-competition providing suppliers with
the details of your requirement and each
supplier submits a priced solution against
those requirements.
An overview of the scope of the
Agreement can be found in Section 3 of
this guidance document.
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3 Services Available
3.1 Lot 1: Help desk/Service desk
The single point of contact between a service
provider and users within an organisation.
A typical service desk manages Incidents
and service requests, and also handles
communication with the users.
Lot 2: Desktop Support
The technical services offered by
a support organisation to user(s)
experiencing problems with their
technology assets. Support may be on
either hardware or software running on
the affected computing device. Support
may include but is not limited to: IMACD
(Installation, Move, Add, Change and
Disposal) and local remote services.
Lot 3: Network Management
A set of hardware and/or software tools
that allow an IT organisation to supervise
the individual components of a network
within a larger network management
Agreement. Network management system
components assist with but are not limited
to: network device discovery; network
device monitoring; network performance
analysis and intelligent notifications.
Lot 4:Network and content security
Managed network security services are
tasks or processes related to network
security.
Which can include but not limited to:
Device management; monitoring and
remediation; email security' including
anti-spam, anti-malware and IP
filtering; network intrusion detection
and prevention; asset classification
and change management; data leak
protection, and the creation of access
control policies.
Lot 5: Infrastructure and platform,
maintenance and support
Manage all library infrastructure hardware
and software operations, including server
and storage systems. Support production
applications, whether open source,
developed in-house, or third party. Break
fix — focused on servers and storage.
Platform support and maintenance is the
management of hardware and software
architecture in order to allow applications
to operate.
Platforms can include one or several of
the following hardware and/or software
components: — hardware contractual
terms and conditions, regulatory non-
compliance, or interrupted service
provision architecture; operating systems;
programming languages and Agreements;
runtime libraries; application servers;
databases; other middle-ware products
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Lot 6: Audit services and asset
management
Asset management is a service that offers
systematic and independent examination
of data, statements, records, operations
and performances (financial or otherwise)
of IT Software and Hardware.
Audit services are formal inspections and
verifications to check whether a Standard
or set of Guidelines is being followed, that
Records are accurate, or that Efficiency
and Effectiveness targets are being met.
Lot 7: IT Infrastructure Transition
Services and Delivery
IT Infrastructure Transition Services is
to assist customers when they need to
move, re-build or re-deploy IT services
from one organisation to another. Service
Transition also makes sure that changes
to services and Service Management
processes between existing and new
service provider are carried out in a
coordinated way.
Lot 8: Service Integration/Service
Integrator
IT Service Integration is to manage
enterprise IT services delivered by multiple
suppliers across different delivery models
in one integrated enterprise service
management process. IT Service Integration
should address the following key challenges
many customers struggle with:
— Complexity, managing their internal and
external suppliers within multi sourcing
environments
— Cost and Effort, ensuring lower costs
and improved performance are not
losing ground to increased effort in
effective supplier management
— Transparency, ensuring there is end-
to-end and cross-supplier service
transparency with clear and consistent
or unclear service reports
— Roles and Responsibilities are clear and
risks
— Compliance with contractual
agreements, regulatory requirements,
industry standards and business
objectives.
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Lot 9: Disaster Recovery/ Business
Continuity
Disaster recovery policies and procedures
that are related to preparing for
recovery or continuation of technology
infrastructure which are vital, to
organisations business continuity, after a
natural or human-induced disaster. This
service will include but not be limited to;
Resilience testing, Recovery testing and
planning and Contingency planning and
support.
Lot 10: Back up and Data Services
A remote, on-line, or managed backup
service, provides users with a system
for the backup, storage, and recovery
of computer files. On-line backup
organisations will provide this type of
service to end users.
Lot 11: Asset Disposal
A computer recycling service that
offers but is not limited to include: data
destruction to UK Government CESG
standards with certificated proof of
erasure for every hard drive or data
bearing asset; a managed IT disposal
service that can be fully integrated with
roll-out programmers and other service
partners; full audit trail with itemised
reporting; IT disposal services are WEEE
Compliant.
8. 4 Eligibility
Our Agreement may be used by all UK public
sector organisations including:
• Central Government Departments and
their Arm's Length Bodies and Agencies;
• Non Departmental Public Bodies;
• Local Authorities;
• Health Sector (i.e. NHS, NHS Trusts,
PCT’s and Strategic Health Authorities);
• Fire Rescue Services;
• Police Forces;
• National Parks Authorities,
• Third Sector and Charities in the United
Kingdom,
• Devolved Administrations; and
• Educational Establishments in England
and Wales*
If you are unsure whether you are eligible to use
this Agreement please contact our Help Desk on
0345 410 2222 or email
info@crowncommercial.gov.uk
*maintained by the Department for Children, Schools and
Families including Schools, Universities and Colleges but
not Independent Schools.
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5 Agreement Duration and Value
Our Agreement will cover the period from 27 May 2015 to 27 November 2016, with the possible
option for an extension of a further six (6) month period, at our discretion.
You may enter into a Call-Off Contract under our Agreement for a period of up to four (4) years.
We would recommend a fixed term with the option for one or more extensions i.e. a 2+1+1 or 3+1
arrangement.
We anticipate that the total spend through the lifetime of this Agreement, as we described in the
Contract Notice, is estimated at between £100 and £200 million.
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6 Benefits
The benefits of using our Agreement as a
commercial vehicle include:
Reduced timescales and costs for the
procurement of services – You do not need to
run a full OJEU procurement, this has already
been undertaken by us. You will need to identify
your requirements, present these to the market,
evaluate responses and award a contract.
Ease of use – The Agreement is easy to use; we
are able to support you with expert commercial
advice and guidance if you need it.
Choice of supplier – Our Agreement offers
excellent choice in suppliers; these are listed in
Annex A.
A multi-vendor supply base environment
taking advantage of the benefits available in the
wider market and supporting the UK Growth
agenda through opening market opportunities to
specialist SME’s. 54% of our suppliers under this
agreement are SMEs
An Alternative solutions to longer term
contracts and helps to ensure services and
solutions are scalable for future service models,
responding to business demand, enabling you
the customer to take advantage of the benefits
of new and changing technologies
It will enable the development of a
comprehensive and relevant service
catalogue for IT services via online
eMarketplace GovStore.
Legality – The Agreement is fully compliant with
EU procurement regulations, EU procurement
rules introduced in 2006 specifically recognize
Framework Agreements as a legitimate route to
market. This reduces procurement risks for you
and reduces bureaucracy in the procurement
process.
Assured supplier standards – Providers
appointed onto this Agreement are ‘prequalified’
as to their general suitability. This means when
buying services you are assured that they can
meet their specified requirements.
Pre-defined terms and conditions – Terms and
conditions of contract have been established
and all suppliers have signed and accepted this
Agreement and terms and conditions of call-off.
You are able to propose your own special terms,
provided there is no material amendment to or
conflict with the Agreement terms.
Collaboration – suppliers are able to collaborate
to provide you with cross organisational
Services, commercially bound by way of an
associated Collaboration Agreement.
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7 How to use
Procurements should be conducted in
accordance with the procedures outlined in this
guidance.
We would recommend that you undertake the
following steps:
• Review this guidance documentation and
the Call-off Terms and Conditions;
• Determine your requirement and construct
your output based specification for the
services you require and
• Determine the most appropriate Lots
for your procurement and conduct that
procurement in line with the parameters
outlined in the following sections.
If you are new to Public Procurement, we have a
‘Help to Buy’ guide available to download here.
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8 Premarket Engagement
Before engaging in any pre-procurement supplier
engagement for technology and disaggregation
services, we recommend that you undertake an
independent detailed analysis of your current IT
service landscape, to understand the needs of
the users, the current costs of the services and
their classification against the Agreement service
definitions. This will provide you with a suitable
benchmark.
Your analysis may feed into your business case
and allow you to measure costs, as the new
technology and disaggregation services partners
commence transition and transformation to
operational service delivery of your service.
Approach
Technology and disaggregation services
procurements by their very nature are likely
to involve some complexity transformation
from your as-is service to your new service. We
would recommend that you engage potential
technology and disaggregation services
providers under this Agreement in a pre-
procurement engagement process, in order that
all parties can understand any complexities and
collaboration obligations:
The approach for the engagement may include
one or more of these activities:-
1. Communicate the supplier engagement
event to the supply base and register
supplier interest.
2. Host the supplier market engagement
event; consisting of a general presentation
of the procurement approach, your current
ICT landscape and the services you have,
the vision for your new ICT landscape, your
anticipated commercial model and timescales.
It is good practice to provide an opportunity
for questions and answers.
The engagement event may take various
forms; it is worth considering virtual events,
such as webinars, for convenience and
resourcing purposes.
3. Publish the engagement presentation
material, questions and answers,
together with any draft specification
documentation that you may have.
4. The above may be suitable for smaller
less complex requirements. If your
requirement is complex in nature, you
may also wish to hold a Discovery Day.
5. Publish the Discovery Day feedback to all.
The Discovery Day Process
The purpose of this Discovery Day engagement
process is to:
• Allow potential service providers more
detailed discussion to understand your
business, its, service transformation
objectives, its ICT estate how it may be
transformed into a disaggregated service
model, providing end to end IT Services
• Enable discussion between you and potential
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service providers regarding appropriate
technology and disaggregation services that
meet the Government IT XGOV Strategic
SIAM reference set standard approach;
• Provide indicative costs to enable a cross
check with the benchmark cost analysis from
the start of the process, as well as a sanity
check on the requirements definition. I.e. if
indicative costs are way out – maybe the
requirements need further definition or clarity;
• Test the market, gain feedback and input
into your final service definitions and tender
documentation e.g. commercial model,
transition or transformation approach and
planning.
The basic principles of Discovery Days are:
• No subsequent procurement can be implied
or guaranteed from the initiation of Discovery
Days;
• 2-way Non-Disclosure Agreements should be
considered before entering into this process;
• All potential service providers in the relevant
SIAM/Tower service lots proposed for the
procurement are invited to participate (you
may wish to run separate events for each
tower service);
• Outputs from meetings that potentially affect
the requirement must be shared with the other
potential service providers, along with draft
documents, if you wish requesting feedback;
• You may have anything from a single to a
series of meetings with potential service
providers;
• Discovery Days are undertaken prior to and
removed from the commencement of any
possible resulting procurement.
Benefits
Discovery Days have benefits to both potential
service providers our Customers, some of which
are listed below.
Potential Service Provider:
• Opportunity to fully understand the Customer
organisation specific SIAM/Tower
requirements including:
o Business objectives challenges;
o Future SIAM/Tower Service strategy;
o Transformation deliverables;
• Fully understand the Customer’s existing
estate through a presentation of Customer
due-diligence information;
• Discuss/explore potential SIAM/Tower service
implementation – options alternatives.
• Question the Customer to gain sufficient
information to deliver a quality proposal if
there is a resultant procurement.
You, the Customer:
• An opportunity to discuss validate what the
market can offer as well as:
• Developing your internal business case;
• Developing requirements definition,
transformation deliverables, and milestone plan;
• Developing tender documentation and
evaluation criteria;
• Discussion and exploration of potential SIAM/
Tower implementation – options, alternatives
risks;
• Understanding cost-drivers risk with a view
to mitigation or removal;
• Knowing that potential service providers
have a clearer understanding of your
disaggregated service requirements,
transformation deliverables and plan to
enable submission of quality tenders.
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9. Competition
A mini competition should be the default method
for awarding call-off contracts under this
Agreement.
You must provide the suppliers with a minimum
set of information that can be used to help
propose solutions and price against your
requirements effectively. Your focus should be on
outputs as opposed to how those outputs are
achieved
If you require support in developing your market
proposition, this can be procured through the
use of Managed Services provided by us or a
private sector company.
If you are conducting a cross-lot procurement
we have provided a toll for selecting the
appropriate suppliers to invite to the mini-
competition.
For further details on our Managed Service,
please visit the following web page here.
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10 Call-Off Evaluation Criteria
The award criteria are consistent for all Lots.
When running a further competition, you should
award the contract on the basis of the most
economically advantageous tender (MEAT).
You must provide suppliers with information
explaining your methodology behind the
evaluation, including the criteria and the
weightings that will be applied to each
assessment. Be sure to mention any sub criteria
that you may have and provide an indication of
how these sub criteria feed into the overall criteria.
Do not evaluate on any aspects that have
not been published, this would leave your
organization open to challenge.
The mandatory high level evaluation criteria and
weightings are outlined below. These should be
used in assessing Suppliers' tenders.
Quality and Price will factor in all evaluations,
the other six criteria are optional and their
inclusion will depend largely upon the scale and
complexity of the services sought.
You may break down the high level criteria with
applicable sub criteria, if you wish, as long as the
overall weightings are not amended.
Criteria
Percentage Weightings (or rank order of importance
where applicable) - to be set by the Contracting
Body conducting the further competition
Minimum Weight Maximum Weight
Quality 30% 60%
Cost effectiveness 0% 10%
Technical merit 0% 10%
Technical assistance 0% 10%
After sales service 0% 10%
Price 30% 60%
Delivery date and delivery period 0% 10%
Period of completion 0% 10%
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11 Concluding your Procurement
Once a decision to award has been made, it is
advised that for further competitions above the
OJEU threshold, you observe a ten calendar day
mandatory standstill period (often called the
‘Alcatel’ period). If doing so, you should issue
an intention to award letter, to all suppliers that
submitted a tender.
Once the ten day standstill period is complete,
you must instruct the selected supplier(s). This
should be done by completing and sending a
letter of appointment, a completed Order Form
and a completed copy of the model call-off
terms and conditions.
The terms and conditions for this Agreement
and those that shall apply to any call-off contract
can be found on our website here, together
with the model order form. No other terms and
conditions should apply. You may supplement
the model terms with your specific terms,
providing there is no conflict with the model
terms or the Agreement terms.
Customers should bear in mind that the
Agreement terms will take precedence over
call-off terms, in the event of any ambiguity or
contractual matters of dispute.
A copy of the Technology Services Benchmark
Record for this Agreement must be completed
and emailed to the A completed copy of the
Technology Services.
The Technology Services Benchmark
Record provides us with information on your
previous service; we will use this information
in conjunction with regular MI and customer
feedback to monitor performance and savings
under this Agreement.
Your Technology Services Benchmark Record
should be emailed to:
ict-ervices@crowncommercial.gov.uk
Insert weblink to CBR
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12 Management Information
Suppliers on this Agreement provide monthly
management information (MI) to us, which is
used to monitor the levels of spend running
through the Agreement, and establish the level
of savings for your organsiation.
You will be provided with information on your
organisation’s spend and savings through the
Agreement by way of your regular Customer
Dashboard. This dashboard will enable you to
review the data provided by your supplier(s).
If you would like additional information on
MI, total spend or savings figures for your
organisation in relation to this Agreement, please
email the Agreement Manager, contact details
provided at the end of this guide.
We may contact you from time-to-time with in
relation to the management information that has
been provided by Suppliers, as part of our due
diligence processes. It would be appreciated if
you would respond to these requests in a timely
manner.
18. One of the main aspects of our remit is to work
with departments and organisations across the
whole of the public sector, to ensure maximum
value is extracted from every commercial
relationship and to improve the quality of service
delivery.
The main Customer benefit will take the form
of cost savings; these are the key performance
indicator by which most departments are
measured, whether these are process savings or
cash releasing savings by using our Agreements.
As well as delivering those financial benefits, we
anticipate that with good supplier relationship
management, we can help to achieve further
qualitative benefits for our customers, such as
improvements in service quality, service delivery
and innovation by our supply base.
In order to capture derived benefit in the
form of savings and monitor the performance
of the Agreement, it is essential that you
complete and return the Technology Services
Benchmark Record (TSBR) each time that
you enter into a new Call-Off-Agreement.
Without this Benchmark Record we are unable
to assess the full benefits delivered to you during
your call-off.
A completed copy of the Technology Services
Benchmark Record should be emailed to
ict-services@crowncommercial.gov.uk
On a periodic basis, we will ask you to complete
a brief online Benefit Realisation Survey.
This survey is very simple, collecting a minimal
set of data and will be used to monitor the
quality of the services that our suppliers are
providing to you, our customer
The purpose of the survey is to ensure your service
expectations are met and improvements are
delivered above your original benchmark record.
The ongoing results from your completed
surveys will be reported and tracked in your
Customer Dashboard.
By responding to our information requests, you
the customer will help to inform our Supplier
Relationship Management strategy and assist
in the continual improvement of our supply
base, thus providing additional benefits to your
organisation and others within the Public Sector.
Please note: We do not publish derived savings
relating to procurements – they are an internal
record and validate the financial benefits of
utilising the Technology Services Agreement in
line with auditable savings for government and
public sector organisations.
13 Customer Benefit Realisation
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19. 14 Case Studies
A case study is a great promotional tool, not just
for suppliers but organisations too. Case studies
may be used across government to demonstrate
the success of your procurement or service that
you receive.
If you are celebrating a success which includes
the use of our Agreements, we would encourage
you to produce a case study. We are happy to
work with you and your supplier and to provide
supporting material for your study where required.
Case studies may be produced in many
forms, not just the traditional leaflet. Perhaps
consider webinars, pod cast etc. as a means of
communicating your case study.
Benefits
o Supporting information to validate the
success of a business proposal or
business case.
o Raises the profile of your organization.
o Supports the information that we collect
by means of our regular performance
surveys etc., a useful addition to support
any audit.
o Enables similar organsiations to
consider adopting similar processes or
systems, thereby increasing commercial
aggregation and achieving better financial
value from current and future Agreements
and indirectly the tax payer.
o Enables us to design our strategy around
the right product and service areas.
What to include
An overview of the business challenge that your
organization was faced with;
The solution how it was found and most
importantly;
the benefits that you have realised, include
statistics and quantitative material if it is
available.
A topic for the business case, perhaps a story
around topical government aims, such as SME
engagement, the ‘digital’ agenda, collaboration
with other organisations etc.
Approval
Case studies should be provided to us and your
supplier for approval before publication, this is
mainly for a content and accuracy check. An
indication of where you intend to publish the
case study would be advantageous.
Publication
Once your case study has been approved, we
would be happy to publish in our customer
newsletter and on our website. We would also
aim publish in any applicable customer and
industry forums that we have access to.
You may of course publish in any relevant
publications or media as you so choose.
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15. Key Performance Indicators
There are a number of KPIs that have been set
for this Agreement.
These cover:
• Savings.
• Customer satisfaction.
• Supplier Self Auditing.
• Operational performance.
• Continuous Improvement.
• Timely provision of management
Information.
• Timely payment of invoices.
You are able to set any KPIs they feel are
necessary for performing the services at call off
level. These must be made clear to the suppliers
on each Lot during the procurement, and
suppliers are able to decline to quote if they wish.
The Customers required Service Levels, KPI’s
and Service Credits should be detailed in
Schedule 6, Annex 1 to Part A and Annex 1 to
Part B of your call-off contract.
27. Contact information
General enquiries
For further information about any of our services please contact:
T: 0345 410 2222
W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/crown-commercial-service
E: neil.street@crowncommercial.gov.uk
@gov_procurement
Crown Commercial Service
4295-15 (May 15)
Norwich
Rosebery Court
St Andrews Business Park
Norwich NR7 0HS
Newport Room 2Y92
Concept House
Cardiff Road
Newport NP10 8QQ
Liverpool 9th Floor
Capital Building
Old Hall Street
Liverpool L3 9PP
London
Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London WC2B 6SE
