IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Tender description

Support and maintenance of a suite of Intellectual Property Office of Ireland (IPOI) eBusiness Services, comprising the following online services — efiling of Trade Marks and Designs, efiling of Patents and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs), Template tool for Patent applications, TMView and DesignView, and related eServices for the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland. The Intellectual Property Office of Ireland (IPOI), an Office under the aegis of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI), has a requirement for application support, maintenance and future potential developments for its suite of systems which provides customers with access to online filing, and online payment of fees, for Intellectual Property rights associated with Trade Marks (TM), Designs (DS), Patents (PT) and Supplementary Protection certificates (SPC). In addition, this contract includes support for an application wizard (referred to as the Patent template tool) for nonprofessional Patent applicants. These services are referred to collectively as the eBusiness services and the servers on which they reside as the eBusiness servers. References to the department are references to the Department of Business Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI). The office is currently in the process of upgrading and migrating to Linux it’s Trademark and Design View systems. These systems were originally developed in partnership with the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) as is the upgrade and migration. The tools allow the office to supply information to a portal hosted by the EUIPO though which internet users can search for information relating to Trademarks and Designs from the subscribing countries, either collectively or individually. The new servers may be live at the time of commencement of this contract or shortly thereafter. Once live, support, maintenance and potential future development of the View systems will become part of this contract.