Provision of Information Technology services through the medium of Welsh

Descriptions

The Welsh Language Board is seeking to invite expressions of interest from suitable organisations for the provision of IT services to the office of the Welsh Language Commissioner through the medium of Welsh. The contract will be for an initial period of 3 years from 1 April 2012 with an option to extend for a further 2 years based on satisfactory performance. 1.The Welsh Language Board is a Welsh Government Sponsored Public Body which was established by the Welsh Language Act 1993. It is funded mainly by grant from the National Assembly for Wales. The Board’s core function is to promote and facilitate the use of the Welsh language. The Welsh Language Board is due to be dissolved on 31 March 2012 following a restructure by the Welsh Government. However the functionalities of the Welsh Language Board will be transferred to the Welsh Language Commissioner’s Office and the Welsh Government. The Welsh Language Board’s contracts will therefore be transferred on the 1 April 2012, under the same terms and conditions, either to the Welsh Language Commissioner’s Office or the Welsh Government. 2.The Board is presently looking for a company to provide maintenance and support services for its Information Technology network through the medium of Welsh. The Board employs one full time IT officer. The Commissioner‘s main office will be based at 5-7 St Mary St, Cardiff, where, 40 staff are located on 3 floors. All staff have been allocated either a desktop pc or a laptop which communicates via the local area network to the Commissioner’s servers. The vast majority of the Board‘s internal administration, and a substantial proportion of its outside business, is conducted in Welsh, As will be the Officer of the Welsh Language Commissioner. It is essential for those companies who can offer maintenance and support to do so in the Welsh language. 3.In addition the Commissioner has 3 satellite offices. One based in Carmarthen where 3 staff are located, one in Caernarfon where 9 staff are located and Rhuthun where 2 staff are located. These offices connect to the network in Cardiff using the PSBA network.4.Details of the maintenance and support services required are as follows:¬i.Maintenance of the local and Wide area networks, 18 servers running a mix of Windows Server 2003 R2 and 2008 R2 including 5 Domain Controllers, 2 Microsoft Exchange 2007 Servers, 1 Blackberry Server, 1 Microsoft ISA 2006 Server, 2 Microsoft SQL 2005 Servers, 1 Microsoft Communications Server 2007, 1 Microsoft Hypervisor Server, 1 NAS, 2 Email Archiving Servers and 1 Telehone System Server. Service also include maintenance of IPSec and VPN connections, Cisco Routers, 3COM network Switches and Watchguard firewall technologies. The scope includes operations; fault management; preventative, security and performance monitoring. ii.On-site systems support (When IT officer is not available) and deliver hardware and software support at our sites for user desktops, laptops, printers, scanners and other hardware. All Client Machines have installed, the Microsoft Welsh Language Interface Pack for Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7 SP1 and Office 2007 SP2. Technical support must be provided in Welsh.iii.Provide help-desk support Monday - Friday, 09.00 - 17.00, and on-site support within 24 hours; support for business-critical issues to be provided within 8 hours. iv.Provide a pro-active computer consultancy service in order to ensure that the Board‘s infrastructure is kept up to date in accordance with requirements. The written expressions of interest do not need to make detailed proposals but will need to complete the questionnaire to demonstrate that the interested parties have satisfied the following criteria: 1. Bilingual competence.2. Technical competence.3. Previous experience.4. Financial standing.Organisations wishing to express an interest in this project are asked to request an expression of interest questionnaire from tender@byig-wlb.org.uk. Please complete the questionnaire, outlining evidence/information relating to the criteria above, to: Director of Central Services, Welsh Language Board, 5-7 St Mary St, Cardiff, CF10 1AT Please note that receipt of written expressions of interest is required by 24 October 2011.