Welsh Government Trusted Research Environment

Tender description

The Welsh Government requires an “off the shelf” trusted research environment. The Trusted Research Environment is an online platform where Welsh Government can grant researchers secure access to microdata whilst remaining in control of the data. This means that microdata will not be able to be removed from the environment and can only be accessed whilst working within it. The platform will provide a secure virtual desktop with access to specialist software (specified below) for researchers to undertake analysis. To allow the Welsh Government to securely fulfil its duties the environment must have achieved ISO 27001 accreditation (or equivalent) and capable of being an accredited research environment under the 2017 Digital Economy Act (DEA).Researchers must not be able to download data or any other information from the platform without going through a secure approvals process. Within the virtual environment, there will be no direct contact between the virtual desktop and the users’ local machine to be able to transfer information (such as through copy and paste or file saves), nor will the user be able to access the wider internet from the virtual desktop.The platform must meet the following requirements:- ISO 27001 accreditation (or equivalent)- Capable of being an accredited Trusted Research Environment under the DEA- Be fully web hosted, no software to be downloaded on to Welsh Government servers.- Have 10-20 concurrent Windows virtual desktops- Access to specialist statistical and programming software. with licensing for each concurrent desktop included in the annual cost. This includes R, Python, SPSS, SAS (for each desktop) and STATA(number of licenses to be negotiated).- Access to Microsoft Office- 250GB secure MS SQL database storage- 100GB file storage- Secure data upload (performed by WG) and storage system- Secure file upload and download process (with approvals managed by WG)- WG must be able to Create/Amend/Remove users- WG must be able to create project workspaces, with administration rights to restrict access to folders to specific users.- No funding available for the development time of the environmentThe contract will be for 3 years, with the option to extend for 12 months.The estimated annual value of the contract is £25,000 - £30,000 (excluding Vat).NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=122247.