Soft Market Testing Exercise (SMTE) for Network Data & Communications Infrastructure)

The University (of Southampton) has a vision to be a top 10 UK university and digital services are considered to be an enabler in assisting the University to achieve this goal. A high capacity, high availability network that is secure and is architected in a way that delivers optimal data services to researchers, students and administrator is critical.

The University's data network supports IT services at 24 locations in and around Southampton. Significant amongst those locations are 5 large teaching and research campuses, 6 Halls of residence (6,000 rooms), and the University's primary Datacentre.

The University also has a dedicated teaching campus in Malaysia, and teaching arrangements in place with several overseas educational establishments. The Malaysia Campus is moving to a new location in July 2021.

The last major review and refresh of the entire University data network (routers, switches, firewalls and associated devices) took place between 2012 and 2015. Some subsequent expansion and renewals have taken place using the same or similar technology to support new buildings and to improve wireless ("Wi-Fi") coverage. The University is looking for a technology partner that can optimise their technology within our environment to achieve sector leading outcomes.

The University's off-site datacentre houses the University's server estate, including VMware clusters, a large high-performance compute (HPC) facility, and some standalone servers. There is also a smaller disaster recovery facility located on the Highfield campus.

Additional information: The University is utilising an electronic tendering tool (In-Tend: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofsouthampton) to manage this procurement and to communicate with participating organisations.

All documentation in relation to this tender can be downloaded from the In-Tend portal.

Participating organisations are advised that there will be no hard copy documents issued to organisations and all communications with the University including the submission of Soft Market Testing questionnaires will be conducted via the In-Tend portal.

Regular monitoring of the portal is the responsibility of the participating organisation.

If you are not already registered as a supplier with the University of Southampton, you will need to register in In-Tend in order to access the tender documentation.

Once you have logged in as a supplier: click on 'Tenders'; locate the relevant project; and click 'View Details'. Once you are in the project screen, you will be able to register your company against the project and access all documentation by clicking 'Express Interest'.

Further instructions for the submission of Soft Market Testing questionnaires are below.

To submit your return, please follow the instructions below: 1. Log In 2. Click 'Tenders' 3. Locate the relevant project 4. View Details 5. Click on the tab relating to the relevant project stage (e.g. 'Soft Market Testing') 6. Click on the 'Attach Documents' button and upload your return. 7. Check ALL your response documents are uploaded and displayed in the "My Tender Return" panel. The system will only permit your organisation to make one return. 8. Click the red "Submit Return" button. Please note that, to preserve the integrity of the tendering procedure, all queries must made be via the correspondence function within the In-Tend portal.

The deadline for the return for completed Soft Market Testing questionnaires is 21st January 2021 (12:00 midday).

Please Note:

This early engagement notice is issued solely for the purpose of conducting pre-procurement market engagement and does not constitute an commitment to undertake any procurement in the future.

Interested parties will not be prejudiced by any response or failure to respond to the Soft market Testing Exercise and a response to this notice does not guarantee and invitation yo participate in this exercise of any future procurement.

This notice does not constitute a call for competition to procure any services, supplies or works mentioned in this notice and the University will not accept and proposals offered in response to this notice.

The University of Southampton is not liable for any costs, fees or expenses incurred by any party in relying to this early engagement notice and/or providing a soft Market Testing Exercise response.