Cyber Observatory

Tender description

The Scottish Government’s (SG) Digital Directorate, through the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3), expects there to be an ongoing need to design and develop a Cyber Observatory. This contract is to appoint a service provider to design and develop the cyber observatory, a capability to enhance Scotland’s cyber security resilience by providing timely insights, ensuring data-driven decision making and fostering collaboration. Lot 1: The Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3) sits within the Digital Directorate in the National Cyber Security and Resilience Division along with the Cyber Resilience Unit (Scotland wide policy and strategy) and the Scottish Government’s Cyber Security Unit. SC3 has a centralised co-ordination responsibility to ensure that the Scottish Public sector is as secure and cyber resilient as it can be. The SC3 Strategic Plan identifies five workstreams which underpin the deliverables and ambitions of the centre: threat intelligence, incident coordination, vulnerability management, cyber exercising, and standards and insights. The SC3 Strategic plan was published in September 2024, setting out the aspirations of centre over the coming years: Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3 Strategic Plan 2024- 2027) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). One of SC3’s core services is its Standards and Insights function, which plays a pivotal role in enhancing Scotland’s cyber resilience. The effectiveness of SC3, and the value it delivers, depends on its ability to accurately assess and understand the sector’s cyber resilience posture. This insight is essential for shaping and applying proportionate security frameworks and standards that help organisations strengthen their cyber defences. To further enhance this capability, SC3 plans to design and develop the Cyber Observatory. The Observatory will be a technical resource aimed at improving visibility of cyber risks, identifying emerging threats, and enabling data-driven decision-making. This initiative will reinforce SC3’s commitment to delivering impactful, evidence-based interventions that support a more cyber-resilient Scotland. The remit of SC3 expands to around 180 public sector bodies in Scotland. As such, it is envisaged that the Cyber Observatory will provide SC3 with capability to effectively manage and maintain the relationships and interactions with stakeholders across the Scottish Public Sector. We therefore currently anticipate there to be 3 over-arching user types within the Observatory: As requirements are refined, there will be a need for more granular role based access control for individual and group user roles within these user types. The Cyber Observatory will be designed as a technical solution capable of ingesting, storing, and processing relevant cybersecurity indicators from all public sector organisations in a structured and dynamic manner. It will also manage organisational information, including security contacts and group memberships. This solution will provide a comprehensive, realtime view of the cyber resilience and maturity of Scotland’s public sector. Additionally, its analytical and reporting capabilities will support real-time assessments, organisation-specific analysis and the production of summary reports or targeted briefs, tailored to both routine and urgent operational requirements.. Direct Award Call-Off from Crown Commercial Service framework reference RM1557.14 - G-Cloud 14