Invitation to tender for the provision of IT support services

The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales is seeking to appoint an IT support provider that will be responsible for:• Ensuring that the IT systems and IT devices authorised availability target 99%, of which no more than 48 hours downtime will occur in any single continuous period (excluding planned outages), to connect to PSOW are correctly configured to operate effectively, and to proactively manage the PSOW IT infrastructure to minimise downtime and to meet the overall target.• Providing 2nd and 3rd line IT Support to the PSOW IT Team, who will usually provide the 1st line helpdesk support service to PSOW staff.• Where PSOW internal IT team are not available, providing 1st line support to PSOW staff working at PSOW offices or at home relating to PSOW hardware and authorised applications and their connection to PSOW applications for urgent matters.• Providing proactive monitoring, management and reporting to PSOW of IT security matters including malware risks and up to date virus definitions to provide assurance for security of all PSOW systems and services. Given the flexible nature of differing monitoring services and the size of PSOW operations, suppliers are invited to offer a number of costed options for levels of monitoring, outlining what each option provides, e.g. automated services, eyes-on, remedial actions, active responses, out of hours, etc.• To manage and monitor PSOW data backups and to work with the external cloud backup solution provider to provide assurance for the integrity of the data, and to assist where necessary in the recovery from the cloud of this data (for testing and for real events). Backups must not be vulnerable to attacks which aim to encrypt them, or otherwise make them unavailable for recovery.• To liaise with contracted 3rd party application / software providers to assist in fault resolution or upgrades.• To provide additional project work at agreed rates in a timely manner.The above is a summary of the main requirements. Full details of the service requirements are provided within the Specification as detailed in Schedule 1.NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=145241.The buyer has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via the Postbox facility. A user guide is available at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/sitehelp/help_guides.aspx.Suppliers are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems.

(WA Ref:145241)