Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) and End User Services (Edge) Service Providers

Descriptions

Overview Given the challenges increasingly faced by Defence, with an ever-increasing need for agility, pace and innovation, a change in the way these services are procured, delivered, and managed is being pursued. This market engagement event is an opportunity for the Authority to engage early with suppliers on these emerging requirements which underpin the Enterprise Service Model (ESM) and our procurement approach. The requirement is for support to a Ministry of Defence (MOD) specialist user with operational demands that span the broadest and most complex requirements. This requires the ability to utilise, integrate, and operate technologies that provide significant advantages in the modern warfighting environment against all adversaries. The nature of this competitive edge requires industry partners to operate as part of a federated joint mission partner approach to maximise the effectiveness of the whole force, where technical risk is managed at the highest level. Existing services operate at SECRET (and higher) based across fixed UK locations as well as globally on a deployed operational basis. Our North Star approach dictates a shift to a multi-classification capability, on a globally distributed platform, to enhance the user experience. This creates opportunities for a combined problem centric approach to solving challenges at pace, experimenting with innovative solutions, as well as traditional support requirements. Description Following the 2024 ESM Platform Services Industry Day, the Special Projects Information Systems & Networks (SPISN) Delivery Team (DT) are now looking to engage the market for two separate contracts for: 1. The provision of Edge services to support the procurement, design, build and support of services consumed by the user. This comprises the end user hardware, software, and peripherals that the users directly interact with, ensuring they are appropriately configured for the mission profile, to provide sensing, actuating, and/or communication functions to fulfil the mission intent. Additionally, this contract will include core productivity applications, line of business applications, bespoke applications and custom application and data services. 2. The provision of Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) to support, sustain and evolve a holistic IT Service Management wrap across the Enterprise. This covers all elements of Service Management practices (ITIL 4). Further, it is to optimise the technical architecture of the existing ITSM tooling – Service Now, to introduce capabilities such as low-code development, support for the SIAM/MSI model, and the development of a common services data model. Ultimately, our North Star aims to achieve true IT Service Management (ITSM) AI through automation and self-service, enhancing efficiency and user satisfaction. The main aims are to deliver collaborative working across partners, to drive improvements across user experience and efficiency across the enterprise. The vision for ESM is the users of the service will become the central focus looking beyond the technical solutions and stove piped systems. The intent is to design a solution fit for future adoption and expansion allowing other customer capabilities to be delivered through this model. This will be underpinned by: 1. Collaboration with both the SPISN teams, the specialist user and the Platforms service provider at minimum, with the expectation that the ecosystem will grow over time to include future strategic service lines. 2. Phased approach to delivery as the Enterprise Service Model develops. 3. Industry to develop and maintain working relationships across the ESM ecosystem with common set of Experience Level Indicators/Agreements (XLI/A) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to deliver services and encourage pragmatic solutions together. Commercial Waiver Please note, this is not a call for competition. This is a market engagement event. The purpose of this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice (PME) is to invite suppliers to participate in an Industry Day prior to the commencement of future competitions for the above-mentioned requirements. The Industry Day will be taking place on 27th May 2025 at the Defence Academy, Shrivenham. All attendees must confirm they hold a minimum of SC clearance in order to be permitted entry to the event. Should your Organisation wish to attend the Industry Day, please respond to the attached form to register your interest. All attendees must comply with the conditions for participation by filling out the attached form: https://forms.office.com/e/61YwiuMJAq All attendees must hold a minimum of SC clearance, and attendees are limited to three per company. Please send your commercial clarification questions to the SPISN Commercial Team at DESSPISN-Comrcl@mod.gov.uk. The deadline for expressions to participate in this Industry Day is the 25th of April 2025. Any request to attend received after this time may be rejected at the Authority’s sole discretion. The SPISN team will manage the process in an open and transparent manner, therefore participation or non-participation in the industry day will not, respectively, advantage or disadvantage any supplier or affect their ability to participate in any future procurement process. This PME does not formally signify the beginning of a procurement process and does not constitute commitment to undertake a procurement exercise until the Tender Notice is issued. You must not take this announcement as confirmation that the Authority shall award a contract for this requirement. The Authority is publishing this announcement without any commitment to issue a tender or place a contract. The Authority also reserves the right to vary or cancel the Industry Day at any time. Accordingly, any expenditure, work or effort undertaken before contract award is a matter solely for the commercial judgement of potential suppliers. Announcements will also be published on the Central Digital Platform (CDP), the Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP), and the Find a Tender service (FTS). The Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) Opportunity Listing link is https://contracts.mod.uk/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=59687