Council fires gun on £50m software and hosting framework opportunity

Essex County Council searching for a sole supplier

A local council has unveiled a £50m software and hosting framework opportunity.

According to a recent contract notice, Essex County Council is seeking to establish a framework agreement to provide it and other public bodies with access to a sole supplier which would work with them to deliver software and hosting services.

Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (MEA), general software services and general hosting services are being sought by the organisation.

The framework will be worth £50m over its four-year lifetime, said the notice.

"The supplier will be required to work with the authority to manage the overall requirements [and] scope of the services [and] will need to demonstrate and maintain their market expertise in undertaking work called off from the framework is of the highest quality and industry best practice," the notice said.

"The supplier is expected to maintain accurate Microsoft licence information, for the purposes of budgeting and software-asset management and notify the authority when the MEA is due for renewal within a suitable timeframe to enable the authority to consider financial implications and undertake options appraisal.

Further, the notice said the supplier will need to "proactively source software licences and associated services (eg support and maintenance, hosting and so on), maintain accurate licensing information for all software procured through this agreement; and proactively plan the provision of software budgeting and software asset management."