CONTRACT NOTICE – NATIONAL

1 Authority Details

1.1

Authority Name and Address

1.2

Address from which documentation may be obtained

As in 1.1

1.3

Completed documents must be returned to:

As in 1.1

2 Contract Details

2.1

Title

The Provision of AIX Support

2.2

Description of the goods or services required

Caerphilly County Borough Council (the Council) is seeking tender bids to provide CCBC with support for its Unix platform which is based on IBM hardware and utilises AIX version 7 as the Unix operating system.

Specification

The environment comprises of two physical machines each with three LPARS managed through HMCs. There is also a dedicated physical machine for TSM backup software. TSM is used to provide backups for the Unix platform and some Windows servers.

The support is to comprise of the following areas and will be required Monday to Friday 08:00 to 18:00, and at certain times of the year (as requested by CCBC) additional support out of these times will be required, this will usually be restricted to single weekends during peak business processing periods, estimate one or two during the year.

The successful supplier will need to provide the stipulated support through their own resources, Caerphilly will enable them to access the network only and will not provide resources to perform any of the tasks.

Experience of Perl scripting would be advantageous.

Platform Management

Manage the environment to proactively identify issues and resolve these issues before they impact on service delivery. This should be performed through weekly checks with CCBC being informed of all outcomes. Where issues do occur, you will need to identify the problem and resolve to minimise disruption to services. If required, you will need to engage with third party suppliers on our behalf to schedule replacement of faulty parts.

You will monitor resources to ensure optimum performance and resilience. Where required you will allocate and manage resources such as memory, storage and the allocation of storage to specific filesystems

Software Management

Ensure that the operating system (and firmware) is working correctly and where necessary appropriate patching and upgrades will be scheduled and applied to the environment. The Council anticipates that it will not upgrade its current software during the contract period.

A similar approach will be taken for the TSM backup software ensuring continuity of this service and backups that are reliable. Where backups fail they will be rerun by the Council to ensure daily backups continue and notified to Caerphilly CBC’s Infrastructure Manager.

Timescales

The contract period will be twelve (12) months with an option to extend for up to a further twelve (12) months.

Any issues affecting service delivery will be acted upon within 30 minutes during the defined support hours (Monday to Friday 08:00 to 18:00 or as requested by Caerphilly CBC).

Account Management

Initial meeting will be held within two weeks of contract being awarded and quarterly thereafter. Caerphilly CBC’s Infrastructure Manager will be informed of any issues, as they are identified, with timescales to resolve and clear action plan and impact on service.

Responsibility

You will be responsible for ensuring the efficient running of the Unix platform, managing performance and capacity as necessary to provide this key service.

You will act professionally and with due diligence when working on Caerphilly CBC’s infrastructure ensuring those who perform the tasks have the necessary skill set and experience to complete the tasks without adversely affecting service delivery.

You will deliver clear communication to Caerphilly CBC’s Infrastructure Manager following weekly checks and identification of issues, ensuring that they are kept up to date with progress.

Security

You will act with highest level of integrity to ensure the safety of Caerphilly CBC’s infrastructure and data.

No data will be exported from Caerphilly CBC’s network or changed or deleted without written permission of the Infrastructure Manager.

2.3

Notice Coding and Classification

2.4

Total quantity or scope of tender

One (1) year period with an option to extend for a further 12 months.

3 Conditions for Participation

3.1

Minimum standards and qualification required

Bidders are required to provide evidence of the engineers who will be supporting the Authority have experience of Aix version 7.2 and above. Please provide evidence of this with supporting documents e.g CVs.

Bidders are required to provide evidence that they adhere to the following security standards:

Cyber Essentials Plus.

Bidders are required to provide contact details of who will provide the stated support Monday to Friday 08:00 to 18:00, along with an escalation procedure.

4 Administrative Information

4.1

Type of Procedure

Single stage

4.2

Reference number attributed to the notice by the contracting authority

N/a

4.3

Time Limits

4.5

Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate can be drawn up

4.6

Tender Submission Postbox

5 Other Information

5.1

Additional Information

As part of the process, the tender will be undertaken utilising Caerphilly CBC's Proactis Plaza e-tendering

system.

Therefore, companies are invited to follow the directions below to register on the system:

1. Log in to the Proactis Plaza E-Sourcing Portal at https://www.proactisplaza.com

2. Click the "Sign Up" button.

3. Enter your details such as Organisation Name, Details and Primary Contact Details.

4. Please make a note of the Organisation ID and Login Name, then click Register.

5. You may then receive an email from the system asking you to Click here to activate your account. This

takes you to Enter Organisation Details. Or you may be redirected straight to your account home page,

depending on your browser.

6. Please enter the information requested, click Next and follow the instructions ensuring that you enter all

applicable details.

7. In the Enter Product Classification screen please ensure that you select the Product Classification Codes

(CPV Codes)that appear in the tender notice.

8. Accept the Terms and Conditions and then click Next. This takes you in to the Welcome window.

9. In the Welcome window please enter your Organisation name, Organisation ID and User Name (User

ID). You now need to create your unique password. Please ensure that you make a note of this along with

the other information already recorded.

10. Now click Done and you will enter the Supplier Home page.

11. From the Home Page, go to the “Opportunities” area, where you can search for this Opportunity. Click

on the "Show Me Arrow" of the relevant opportunity and then click to register your interest on the relevant

button.

12. Click the Opportunities Icon on the left of the page so that the page is refreshed, then, click on the

"Show Me Arrow" of the relevant contract again and this will take you into the create a response section of

the portal.

13. Note the closing date for completion of the relevant project. Please review the tabs at the top of the page

as there will be information relating to the project held here.

14. You can now either continue to fill out this area and create a response or if the project is not of interest

to you Decline this opportunity by clicking the "Decline" button at the top of the page.

Tenderers shall express an interest in tendering for this arrangement by registering their interest on the

Proactis Plaza System as stated above and then completing the online e-tender submission.

(WA Ref:119170)

5.2

Additional Documentation

5.3

Publication date of this notice