Simon Harris T.D., Minister of State with special responsibility for Public Procurement has announced a Framework Agreement for the provision of ICT Research and Advisory Services for the public sector.

Welcoming the new Framework Agreement, Minister Harris commented: “Information and Communication Technology is critical to the effective operation of Government and to the delivery of efficient, cost effective public services which are responsive to the needs of citizens and business.   Technology is constantly changing, offering new and better ways to do business.  Public service bodies therefore require access to world class, independent, objective research and advice to inform their decisions on ICT investment and key initiatives.”

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) published a tender in December 2014 to put in place a Framework Agreement to enable public service bodies to avail of these services – the first of its kind in Ireland. In response to this tender two Irish SMEs – Optimize and Trigraph Professional Service formed a consortium, IT Executive Focus, and were successful in being awarded a place on two of the Framework lots. The other companies awarded places were: Gartner Ireland Ltd., Accenture, Analysys Mason Ltd. and Info-Tech Research Group.

The Framework lots were structured so as to provide public service bodies with options to access research and advisory services on an ad hoc basis, without the need to sign up to a traditionally  more expensive 12-month subscription.

This procurement is an example of how sub-division of contracts into lots can facilitate access by SMEs particularly where SMEs join together to form consortia.

The Framework Agreement will also remove the need for PSBs to tender for these services on an individual basis thereby helping to eliminate duplication in procurement while also assisting the public service in managing its information on spending patterns and usage into the future.

The Framework Agreement will run for one year with a maximum of 3 extensions of 12 months each.

ENDS

Media Contact: Richard Troy 087-0641625

OGP Communications: Theresa Ryan 086-0269541

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Office of Government Procurement @procurement_ie

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform @IRLDeptPER

 

Notes to Editor:

What services are covered by this framework?

  • Access to primary and secondary research documents including white papers, public & private sector reports and International research material for ICT Industry
  • Strategic analysis of the industry in terms of products, technologies, services, standards and vendors
  • ICT governance, architecture, development strategies
  • Designing architectures and infrastructures
  • Product segments and product innovations
  • Analysis of companies in the ICT sector to include company overview, products, services and company strategy, commercial viability, market share,
  • Details of sectors, including but not limited to: ICT, Mobile Communications, Software Applications, Financial Services Software, e-Learning, Digital Media and related areas including IT and Business Technology, Strategy, Marketing, Forecasting, Social Media, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service etc.
  • Sourcing and supplier management
  • Maximising the benefit of existing technologies
  • Access to case study reports on the ICT Industry for both private & public sector.

Who can use this framework?

Parties eligible to participate in this Framework Agreement:

  • Ministers of the Government of Ireland, Central Government Departments, Offices and non-commercial Agencies and Organisations which have a formal reporting and legal relationship to Central Government Departments, including all local authorities in Ireland (themselves including Town Councils, regional assemblies, county enterprise boards and library bodies),
  • Contracting authorities in the Irish health sector including but not limited to the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) and HSE funded agencies delivering health and personal social services funded by more than 50% from Exchequer funds,
  • Contracting authorities which are third Level Education Institutions (including but not limited to universities and institutes of technology), HEAnet and its member institutions, Educational and Training Boards (ETB), ETB schools, primary, post-primary, special and secondary schools, groups and clusters of schools and youth centres,
  • An Garda Siochána,
  • The Irish Prison Service,
  • Defence Forces