The DISC Programme is a mission-critical programme, responsible for the replacement of the DCA's existing contracts for IT services when they expire in 2007-8, and for the transition of underlying services.
The Department currently has four main contract areas and six contracts that provide IT infrastructure and business applications services. These all expire between January 2007 and October 2008 and the Department is planning for their replacement with contracts that better suit its current and future expected needs.
The mission for the DISC Programme is to create competitive market-facing contracts to optimise and modernise current operations. It is critical that the procured contracts provide both continuity of service at the termination of the existing contracts and the flexible and future-proofed platform to enable delivery of more effective and efficient solutions.
The scope of the services to be delivered as a result of DISC includes a number of related agencies and Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs).
Before commencing the formal procurement process DISC undertook a range of market engagement activities to ensure that the strategies we have adopted are practical and achievable. One of the main ways of engaging with the market was to hold a series of workshops via the joint Office of Government Commerce and Intellect Concept Viability Forum. Details of the process can be found on the Intellect web site. Should you wish to obtain a copy of the reports from these workshops, you should contact Nick Kalisperas at Intellect.
The DISC Programme comprises three Projects: Procurement, responsible for the procurement of new modern, flexible IT Infrastructure and Applications contracts; Transition, responsible for the transfer of delivery and support for all in-scope services from incumbent suppliers to new service providers, with minimal business interruption; and ITSS 2.0, responsible for preparing the DCA's e-Delivery Group to adjust to the new contract environment in which it will manage and integrate the new IT services.
Our procurement needs for IT infrastructure and applications were published
in a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 22
April 2005. The notice is available to download [PDF
74 kb]
We plan to award the contracts from this procurement process in Autumn
2006.
The following suppliers were shortlisted in November 2006:
For applications services: Atos Origin, IBM and LogicaCMG
For infrastructure services: Atos Origin, BT, and EDS
However, BT announced in January 2006 that they wished to withdraw from the DISC procurement as a prime candidate, and would focus instead on supporting Atos Origin's bid.
Candidates submitted their detailed technical solutions and outline transition plans on 27 January, which were analysed and evaluated.
Following a decision by the DISC Programme Board to re-schedule the procurement timetable, in particular to allow us to strengthen the way in which Libra application services are brought into DISC, the invitation to Best and Final Offer (BAFO) was issued on 5 July, and contracts are expected to be awarded in Autumn 2006.
Should you have any queries relating to the DISC Programme, please email the
DISC team. The team will acknowledge all emails and respond appropriately.
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