IT Service Providers

Tender description

Lincolnshire County Council (the “Council”) will be embarking on a programme of work during 2024 to procure a number of IT services. The proposed scope of IT services to be covered by this procurement is likely to include: • Service Desk and End User support (including VIPs) • Service Management • End User Device Management • Application Support • Managed Cloud (Azure services) • Infrastructure Support • Security Operations • Professional Services – Technical Design and Project Management The procurement is expected to begin mid-2024 and this notice is initially to seek responses to a series of Market Engagement opportunities that will provide further details on the programme and to help finalise the particulars of the procurement. The Council invites suppliers to express their interest in this opportunity via the Pro-Contract Due-North portal no later than 8th September 2023. Lot 1: Lincolnshire County Council will be procuring a number of IT services when the contract with the current provider expires in March 2026. The Council’s proposal is to move to a multi-source supplier model with services grouped as follows: Operational Services • Service Desk and End User support (including VIPs) • Service Management • End User Device Management • Application Support • Managed Cloud (Azure services) • Infrastructure Support Security Services • Security Operations Professional Services • Technical Design and Project Management* Network Services • WAN** * Project and technical / service design are proposed to sit with the Council but supplemented by a professional services delivery partner. **Included for completeness but out of scope of any procurement activities. It is proposed that the Council’s IT team will retain overall responsibility for strategy, governance, standards and risk, and the following core services / functions: • Business Engagement • Projects and Portfolio Management • Technical and Service Design • Vendor and Contract Management • Datacentre Facilities • Data Services The procurement is expected to begin mid-2024 and this notice is initially to seek responses to a series of Market Engagement opportunities that will help finalise the particulars. The main objectives of the Market Engagement sessions are: • To provide further details of the procurements • To invite suppliers to comment on or clarify aspects of the proposed service delivery model • To ensure suppliers understand how to engage effectively with the proposed procurement process The schedule of Market Engagement sessions is as follows: A. A 1 hour meeting to be held via Microsoft Teams to which all interested suppliers are invited. This meeting will be held on Friday 15th September at 11am where the Council will present further details on the proposed procurements. B. Further meetings focusing on the individual groups of services will be held as follows: 1. For suppliers interested in the proposed Operational Services group, two half-day events are proposed (you would only attend one event) on the following dates: • Tuesday 26th September (pm) at one of the Council’s Lincoln sites • Thursday 5th October (pm) at one of the Council’s Lincoln sites 2. For suppliers interested in the proposed Security Services group, a series of virtual (Microsoft Teams) sessions with suppliers are proposed. The exact structure of these sessions will be determined based on the number of suppliers who express an interest but are expected to take place late September / early October. 3. For suppliers interested in the proposed Professional Services group, a series of virtual (Microsoft Teams) sessions with suppliers are proposed. The exact structure of these sessions will be determined based on the number of suppliers who express an interest but are expected to take place late September / early October. Further details on the agenda, location and exact timings for the above meetings will be issued closer to the scheduled dates along with formal invitations. The Council invites suppliers to express their interest in this opportunity via the Pro-Contract DueNorth portal no later than 8th September 2023. Suppliers should indicate which meetings they are interested in attending. Suppliers who express an interest in this PIN may also be asked to complete a premarket engagement questionnaire which will be published at a later date in the Pro-Contract tender box.