UK SBS IT18171 UK Research and Innovation REF Website Migration and Hosting for Research England

Tender description

The final date and time for the submission of bids is 21/08/2018 at 14:00. DO NOT apply directly to the buyer. Brief Description of Requirement: The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 established Research England as a Council of UK Research and Innovation and alongside the other existing Councils (the seven Research Councils and Innovate UK). Research England is responsible for funding, engaging with and understanding English higher education institutions (HEIs). As autonomous and diverse organisations, HEIs play a distinctive role in the research and innovation system, justifying a Council which challenges them to deliver to national agendas and supports them in achieving that. The diversity of individual university strategies, shaped by their many partners, will complement the level of strategic direction provided by UK Research and Innovation. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). It was first conducted in 2014, and replaced the previous Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008). The REF is undertaken by the four UK higher education funding bodies. In 2008 and 2014, the funding body for England was the Higher Education Funding Council England, who managed the REF on behalf of the other funding bodies: the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland (DfE). Under the current service level agreement, the REF team receive support from the Office for Students and the REF website continues to be hosted on the HEFCE server. The current contract for the CMS expires at the end of September. The server on which the site is run will also be decommissioned by the end of September. The REF team therefore requires a third party to host the REF website. It also requires a content management system that offers a high degree of control of the REF 2021 site to make regular updates to it. The initial contract period will be for two years with the option to extend for an additional two years. The aim of this sourcing activity is to find a supplier who can: - migrate the content of the existing REF 2021 website to a new content management system by 28 September 2018; - provide a content management system for the REF 2021 website from end September 2018; - host the website. Please ensure you review all attached information to ensure a full understanding of this requirement. All attachments can be found via the RFx attachments tab within the Emptoris System. This contract will be awarded based on the evaluation criteria set out in the ITQ document. How to Apply: As part of the strategic alliance between UK Shared Business Services Ltd (UK SBS) and Crown Commercial Service (CCS), UK SBS will be using the CCS eSourcing Suite for this procurement. To register on the CCS eSourcing portal please follow the details contained within the Additional Information section.