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Services - 236232-2020

20/05/2020    S98

United Kingdom-Corsham: Software support services

2020/S 098-236232

Voluntary ex ante transparency notice

Services

Legal Basis:
Directive 2014/24/EU

Section I: Contracting authority/entity

I.1)Name and addresses
Official name: Ministry of Defence, Information Systems and Services, ISS Commercial Sourcing Team
Postal address: Bldg 405, MoD
Town: Corsham
NUTS code: UKK15 Wiltshire CC
Postal code: SN13 9NR
Country: United Kingdom
Contact person: John Wilmott
E-mail: John.wilmott102@mod.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 7769148763
Internet address(es):
Main address: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/defence-digital
I.4)Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisions
I.5)Main activity
Defence

Section II: Object

II.1)Scope of the procurement
II.1.1)Title:

DDSFTW/005 — Microsoft Unite

II.1.2)Main CPV code
72261000 Software support services
II.1.3)Type of contract
Services
II.1.4)Short description:

Single source for the provision of premier support, maintenance and consultancy service for 23 months from 1 June 20 through to 30 April 2022.

II.1.6)Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: no
II.1.7)Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value excluding VAT: 17 750 000.00 GBP
II.2)Description
II.2.3)Place of performance
NUTS code: UK UNITED KINGDOM
Main site or place of performance:

UNITED KINGDOM.

II.2.4)Description of the procurement:

The ISS Commercial Sourcing Team, part of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (the Authority), intends to award a contract to Microsoft Ltd (the Contractor) for software consultancy, support and maintenance (including updates) services (including Microsoft Azure). The duration of the contract will be as stated in this notice.

It is considered that this contract can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice pursuant to Article 32(2)(b)(ii) of Directive 2014/24/EU and Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (SI 102) on the basis that the services provided for in the contract can be supplied only by the Contractor, and that competition is absent, for technical reasons. The Contractor alone has the specific technical knowledge and skills necessary to undertake the services as they own and have developed the relevant software products and applications used by the Authority in connection with its operations.

II.2.5)Award criteria
II.2.11)Information about options
Options: no
II.2.13)Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no
II.2.14)Additional information

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Description
IV.1.1)Type of procedure
Negotiated procedure without prior publication
  • The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:
    • absence of competition for technical reasons
Explanation:

As Defence Digital continues to evolve its own cloud offering to meet future business and security needs, it is critical to have access to the full breadth of Microsoft consultancy to assure the bespoke private Cloud infrastructure that is built on the Microsoft Azure technology (chosen via competition). MOD will be the first and largest customer in the UK and Europe who will be running UK hosted Azure services in the cloud. The MOD requirement mandates data sovereignty and reliability and this non-negotiable requirement can only be supported by Microsoft for these services at this scale. Previously where MOD moved to O365 Cloud service, required regular and extensive access to the Microsoft product developers in the US in liaison with security cleared Microsoft Consultants in the UK was essential considering the critical and complexity which MOD represents as a customer.

The current requirements cannot be delivered without the direct access to Microsoft Support with the scale of the MOD’s of Azure cloud exploitation and the level of expertise required will not be available if we contract with a 3rd party consultancy. Furthermore, we have the evidence that by having direct links to product developers, we have been able to solve issues with the service that are unique to MOD’s future requirements. One aspect of exploiting cloud services is the use of power applications which MOD has already invested in. At the same time, there are several key initiatives that only Microsoft have the knowledge breadth and skills depth to deliver the scope of work which includes the power platform applications capability.

This contract also ensures the MOD is part of the Microsoft preview pilots for all Microsoft cloud offerings and only a handful of organisations around the world get early access to products before they are released. Having this early exposure gives the MOD the opportunity to influence and shape the products to suit our future defence needs: we will not get this access without a direct relationship with Microsoft.

Without Microsoft direct support the level of technical risk to MOD’s transition from existing monolithic contract arrangements would be too high to be appropriate for Defence. MOD is already using Microsoft expertise to mitigate these risks, in particular when leveraging expertise in the US product groups to assist us with this activity, again coupled with our on-site SMEs who provide the context of the often non-standard deployment of Microsoft technologies across Defence.

Latterly having one less commercial interface between the Microsoft Premier support and design consultancy has proven to deliver seamless interoperability, reduce risk and ensures that critical high-quality design work is delivered at pace and right first time.

Microsoft is the largest software provider to Defence; this consultancy is integral to supporting our business and military operations worldwide at all security tiers. In the case of a deployed we have previously used this contract to deploy Microsoft specialists to Operational theatres at short notice, Op HERRICK in Afghanistan, being an example.

IV.1.3)Information about framework agreement
IV.1.8)Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: no
IV.2)Administrative information

Section V: Award of contract/concession

Contract No: DDSFTW/006
Title:

Microsoft Unite

V.2)Award of contract/concession
V.2.1)Date of contract award decision:
14/05/2020
V.2.2)Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: no
V.2.3)Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
Official name: Microsoft UK PLC
Postal address: Microsoft Campus Building 1
Town: Reading
NUTS code: UK UNITED KINGDOM
Postal code: RG6 1WG
Country: United Kingdom
E-mail: jennyd@microsoft.com
Telephone: +44 1189093338
Internet address: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/about/contact/
The contractor/concessionaire will be an SME: no
V.2.4)Information on value of the contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot/concession: 17 750 000.00 GBP
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: 17 750 000.00 GBP
V.2.5)Information about subcontracting

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.3)Additional information:

The Authority reserves the right to amend any condition related to security of information to reflect any changes in national law or government policy. If any contract documents are accompanied by instructions on safeguarding classified information (e.g. a security aspects letter), the Authority reserves the right to amend the terms of these instructions to reflect any changes in national law or government policy, whether in respect of the applicable protective marking scheme, specific protective markings given, the aspects to which any protective marking applies, or otherwise. The link below to the Gov.uk website provides information on the Government Security Classification.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-classifications

Advertising Regime OJEU: this contract opportunity is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), the MoD Defence Contracts Bulletin and www.contracts.mod.uk Go reference: GO-2020518-DCB-16576422

VI.4)Procedures for review
VI.4.1)Review body
Official name: Ministry of Defence, Information Systems and Services, ISS Commercial Sourcing Team
Postal address: Spur B2, Bldg 405, MoD Corsham
Town: Corsham
Postal code: SN13 9NR
Country: United Kingdom
E-mail: John.wilmott102@mod.gov.uk
Telephone: +030 67700256
VI.4.2)Body responsible for mediation procedures
Official name: Ministry of Defence, Information Systems and Services, ISS Commercial Sourcing Team
Town: Corsham
Country: United Kingdom
VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:
18/05/2020