IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Tender description

In May 2018, GSOC negotiated with the supplier of its Case Management System (CMS), Equiniti-ICS ('Equiniti'), terms for a 1-year extension to the previous 5-year CMS Maintenance and Support (M&S) contract, which expired on 27.5.2018. The extension carries the option of a further one-year extension, with termination no later than May 2020. The Intellectual Property for the complete CMS is split between Equiniti and GSOC, with GSOC having IP rights only over those parts of the Client and Server modules designed and implemented specifically for GSOC. In practice, only Equiniti has the knowledge, software and infrastructure to support, modify, build, deploy and maintain the CMS. These cannot in practice be transferred to or assumed by any other supplier, at least not in any reasonable timeframe. For these reasons, GSOC has concluded an arrangement with Equiniti, on a non-tender basis, for the proposed one-year (maximum two-year) extension of M&S. In May 2018, GSOC negotiated with the supplier of its Case Management System (CMS), Equiniti-ICS ('Equiniti'), terms for a 1-year extension to the previous 5-year CMS Maintenance and Support (M&S) contract, which expired on 27.5.2018. The extension carries the option of a further one-year extension, with termination no later than May 2020. The GSOC CMS is a software application designed by GSOC and Equiniti, the original supplier, to meet the specific Case-handling requirements of GSOC. Those requirements are grounded in the legislation that governs GSOC's operations - the Garda Síochána Act, 2005 ('the Act'). The workflows implemented in software in the CMS closely reflect the sections of the Act that specify how GSOC must handle the various types of Cases that may arise in the normal course of its operation. The CMS application consists of Client and Server modules, which are entirely written by Equiniti. The CMS is a 'closed' system specifically designed for the GSOC use-cases. As such, its internals are known only to Equiniti, and the application can only be modified and built by Equiniti. The Intellectual Property for the complete CMS is split between Equiniti and GSOC, with GSOC having IP rights only over those parts of the Client and Server modules designed and implemented specifically for GSOC. In practice, only Equiniti has the knowledge, software and infrastructure to support, modify, build, deploy and maintain the CMS. These cannot in practice be transferred to or assumed by any other supplier, at least not in any reasonable timeframe. For these reasons, GSOC has concluded an arrangement with Equiniti, on a non-tender basis, for the proposed one-year (maximum two-year) extension of M&S.