FOI release

SIA ICT contracts: 2024 update

Published 7 February 2024

1. Request

This is a request for information that relates to the organisation’s contracts for server hardware maintenance, server virtualisation licences and maintenance, and storage area network (SAN) maintenance/support.

For each of the type of contract described above, please can you provide me with the following data. If there is more than one contract, please split the information for each separate supplier – this includes annual spend.

1. Contract title

2. Type of contract – is it for server hardware, virtualisation, or storage area network (SAN)?

3. Existing/current supplier

4. Brand – please state the brand of hardware or software

5. Operating System / software (platform) – is it Windows, Linux, Unix, vSphere, AIX, Solaris, and so on?

6. Annual average spend – please provide me with the most recent annual spend for this contract

7. Contract duration – please can you also include notes if the contract includes any contract extension periods

8. Contract expiry date

9. Contract review date – an approximate date of when the organisation is planning to review this particular contract

10. Purchase of servers – the month and year in which most of the servers were purchased.

11. Number of physical servers

12. Number of virtual servers

13. Brief contract description – I require a brief description of the service provided under this contract. Please do not just put “maintenance”; I need at least a sentence.

14. Contract owner – the person from within the organisation that is responsible for reviewing and renewing this particular contract. Please include their full name, job title, direct contact number and direct email address.

2. Response

I can confirm that the SIA does hold this information.

Please note, all shareable information with regards to our contract awards is published on Contracts Finder.

The SIA does not have any contracts covering the following:

• Server hardware maintenance – contracts relating to the support and maintenance of the organisation’s physical servers
• Storage Area Network maintenance/support (EMC, NetApp etc)

This is because the SIA server and storage infrastructure requirements are met using public cloud services. They do not require the maintenance of servers and storage infrastructure as this is provided by the public cloud provider.

The SIA has 2 contracts which may be relevant to virtualisation maintenance/support/licensing.

2.1 SIA 769 – Digital services support and improvement 2023

• Type of contract: Virtualisation
• Existing/current supplier: Version 1
• Brand: Not applicable, as the only software this contract covers is the operating system and other licences for Microsoft products
• Operating system / software (platform): MS Windows, various versions
• Annual average spend: Year 1 estimated at £3.6 million
• Contract duration: 3 years
• Contract expiry date: 13 December 2026
• Contract review date: This may vary, but contract notices may be published on Contracts Finder prior to any renewal containing these details
• Purchase of servers - No servers have been purchased. Computer, network and storage infrastructure are stood up on demand. The bulk of this will have taken place throughout the year in 2019, it is not possible to specify a month as this was a gradual rollout with quantities of servers being stood up and stood down as required. In addition to this the SIA also stood up further computer, network and storage capabilities in August 2022.
• Number of physical servers: Not applicable, as there are no physical servers (see above)
• Number of virtual servers: Variable but current quantity stands at approximately 160 virtual machines
• Brief contract description: The scope of this contract includes work to deliver a range of projects but specifically strategic network redesign and interface upgrades
• Contract owner: This may vary, but contract notices may be published on Contracts Finder prior to any renewal containing these details

2.2 SIA 802 - IT software and licensing contract 2023-2025

The details for this contract are:

• Type of contract: Virtualisation and licensing
• Existing/current supplier: Phoenix Software Limited
• Brand: Not applicable, as the only software this contract covers is the operating system and other licences for Microsoft products
• Operating system / software (platform): MS Windows, various versions
• Annual average spend: £200K
• Contract duration: 2 years
• Contract expiry date: 31 March 2025
• Contract review date: This may vary, but contract notices may be published on Contracts Finder prior to any renewal containing these details
• Purchase of servers - No servers have been purchased. Computer, network and storage infrastructure are stood up on demand. The bulk of this will have taken place throughout the year in 2019, it is not possible to specify a month as this was a gradual rollout with quantities of servers being stood up and stood down as required. In addition to this the SIA also stood up further computer, network and storage capabilities in August 2022.
• Number of physical servers: Not applicable, as there are no physical servers (see above)
• Number of virtual servers: Variable but current quantity stands at approximately 60 virtual machines
• Brief contract description: The scope of this contract will include a software agent to manage software requirements and licences on behalf of the SIA. The current requirements are including but not limited to:
  • Service management platform
  • Productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services
  • Digital marketing and creative software
  • Remote security scanning software
  • File archiver and compressor software
• Contract owner: This may vary, but contract notices may be published on Contracts Finder prior to any renewal containing these details

[Reference: FOI 0483]