TENDER OF IT SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE CONTRACT

Section A - Background and Context to the Tender (abridged)

CPC is interested in receiving tenders from IT support providers who have a proven track record of supporting IT for the local government sector, particularly local councils. It is interested in receiving tenders for 3, 4 and 5 years so it can understand if best value would be achieved by signing up to a longer commitment.

Section B: Required Format of Tender Submission

Please find detailed below the format in which the tender must be returned:

Section 1: Support costs for existing IT estate (see Appendices A and C)

• Please provide costs per unit per line item
• Please show columns for 3-, 4- and 5-year contract terms
• Provision of SIEM/ SOC is currently being considered for both Officers and Councillors to provide an end-to-end security solution given recent changes to the public sector threat landscape. In appendix A the current security solution is detailed and line items shown to illustrate the SIEM / SOC addition. We would welcome your views on what end-to-end security solution you would recommend

Section 2: Compliance with required Service Levels (see Appendix B)

• Please confirm whether you can comply with the required Service Levels
• If you are unable to comply, please explain why and detail your alternative offering

Section 3: Provision of Company Profile in support of your tender response. Please provide:

• Full title of company
• Overview and profile of the company
• Company registration number
• Addresses where service will be provided from
• Names and profiles of key company officers
• Evidence of company's financial viability
• Means of contact for faults issues and queries
• IT qualifications and experience of engineers that will be involved in the contract
• Is the company quoting the parent company or a subsidiary? If subsidiary, please supply the name of the parent company
• VAT Registration number (if registered for VAT)
• Any certifications held by the organisations e.g. ISO27000
• Detail what steps you have taken within your company to align with Data Security/ GDPR legislation
• Amount of cover for public and product liability insurance
• Summary of your client engagement approach e.g. meetings, surveys, regular calls etc
• Details of three reference clients (one of which must be a local council) as we may wish to take up references

Additional Guidance:

When returning your tender response please note:

• If you feel there are any omissions in Sections 1 to 3 then please include these in your response and highlight them
• Include any assumptions in your response
• Please enclose an example of the Master Service Agreement you would apply to this contract if awarded this tender
• State the lead time for setting up the Support and Maintenance agreement as specified in Section B of this document
• The term of the contract must be for a minimum of 3-years (with 4- and 5- year options also provided) and should continue in one-year periods, unless terminated by either party not giving less than sixty days' notice
• If you have any questions, please submit these in writing to [email protected] within five (5) working days of receiving the tender specification so they can be responded to promptly and the response shared with other interested parties
• To be considered in the tender selection process we must receive your response no later than close of business on Friday, 10 October 2025.
• Tender responses should be sent by email to [email protected], marked CONFIDENTIAL: TENDER RESPONSE TO PROCUREMENT OF IT CONTRACT

Section C: Appendices

Appendix A: Existing IT Estate required to be supported

Item Quantity

Officer PCs and Laptops 12

Server 1

Konika Minolta Printer 1

Dymo Printer 1

Network Infrastructure Device Package 3

Microsoft Exchange Plan 1 19

Microsoft 365 Business Standard Licence 8

Vault Back Up (private cloud) 250GB package - please state unit cost per GB

User Protection (Barracuda / EDR) 5

Endpoint Protection (EDR) 6

Email Protection external only - this covers 12 employee PC and laptops and the 17 councillor tablets 29

Councillor tablets 17 - Please exclude from the tender as these are being decommissioned shortly and current day to day support provided by one of the councillors

Councillor laptops (currently being purchased) 10 - please see Appendix C

Officer tablets (currently being purchased) 2 - spec similar to Councillor laptops in Appendix C

SIEM / SOC (purchase being considered) for Council Officer PCs, Laptops and Tablets 11

SIEM / SOC (purchase being considered) for Councillors 17

Appendix B: Required Service Levels

The target Service Level Agreement (SLA) defined in this section applies to standard business hours of 08.00 to 18.00hrs, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays).

Response Time SLA:

This defines the maximum time allowed to acknowledge or respond to a customer's inquiry or issue.

Priority Target Response Time Response Goal

1 - High Priority 1 - 2 Hours 95%

2 - Medium Priority 4 - 8 Hours 90%

3 - Low Priority including Change Requests (moves, adds, changes) 24 Hours 90%

Resolution Time SLA:

This specifies the time frame within which issues must be fully resolved.

Criticality of Issue Resolution Timeframe

Critical Issue Resolution within 4 hours

High Priority Issue Resolution within 8 hours

Medium Priority Issue Resolution within 24 hours

MADS (moves, adds& changes) Resolution within 5 days

Where Business Impact and Severity are defined as follows:

Business Impact Description

High Critical - Major business processes are stopped

Medium Business is degraded, but there is a reasonable workaround

Low More of an irritation than a stoppage

Level of Severity Description

High Whole council is affected

Medium Departments or large group of users are affected

Low One user or a small group of users are affected

High Severity Medium Severity Low Severity

High Business Impact Critical Issue Critical Issue High Priority Issue

Medium Business Impact High Priority Issue High Priority Issue Medium Priority Issue

Low Business Impact High Priority Issue Medium Priority Issue Medium Priority Issue

Please note:

• We expect that resolution of issues will be undertaken remotely or via onsite visit or a combination of both depending on the circumstances
• Vendor management with manufacturers or third-party support companies is required for all supported product related incidents
• Maintenance of email and internet access with service provider is included
• Monitoring of the server will be undertaken to ensure early detection and ideally prevention of incidents
• An annual review of the estate will be undertaken with written recommendations for any changes required
• In respect of the cloud based back up of the server - please state server provider and confirm that the data will be stored within the UK for GDPR purposes

Appendix C: Specification for new Councillor Laptops

The specification is being used to replace the existing 17 councillor tablets with Dell 14 inch Latitude laptops and an accompanying protective case (note some Councillors are using their own IT devices and will not therefore receive IT support).

The following table details the user requirements and the reason that replacement laptops were favoured over tablets:

User Requirements Meets User Requirements (Y / N)

Dell 14 inch Latitude laptops Generic Tablet

Comparison Notes

Access and respond to councillor emails Y Y Easy on both but laptop maybe be better for accessibility

Saving documents for access and use during Council meetings (will need to consider storage requirements) Y N Documents should be remotely stored but easier to retrieve offline on laptop

Toggle between documents (e.g. agenda, minutes, committee papers) Y N Having multiple windows open on a tablet is trickier

Ability to annotate documents (e.g. via a smart pen) ? Y Possible on some laptops

Access to online collaboration / meeting apps e.g. Zoom, MS Teams etc Y Y Equal

Be loaded with full MS Office functionality Y Y

Access to internet Y Y

Auto software and security updates Y Y

Be able to offer split screen capability Y N Both offer this but easier on laptops

Bluetooth 5.4 capability Y Y

Supports an external keyboard Y Y Via Bluetooth on the tablet

Built in speakers Y N Much better on the laptop due to the better sound dispersion

Biometric Security (desirable) Y Y