Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
Essex County Council
COUNTY HALL
CHELMSFORD
CM11QH
UK
Contact person: Georgia Agius
E-mail: georgia.agius@essex.gov.uk
NUTS: UKH36
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://www.essex.gov.uk/
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Security Operations Centre
Reference number: CO0521
II.1.2) Main CPV code
72000000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Essex County Council's Technology Services department operates a hybrid security operations centre (SOC) model, in which an internal team is complimented by an external supplier providing a 24/7 service.
This contract is to procure a service that will provide 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year monitoring and alerting service on the Council's systems designed to rapidly detect and alert the Council to cyber threats.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
205 031.06
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
72000000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKH3
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
This service will provide a 24/7/365 SOC service capable of detecting and alerting ECC to any potential cyber security incidents.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Price
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition
Justification for selected award procedure:
The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the Directive
Explanation
Direct award via a waiver to the incumbent provider for one year only. It is not possible for another contractor to be procured for this one year period because it requires bespoke code to be written for the Council. Also, the current monitoring system is owned by Phoenix Software Ltd and was purpose built to the Council's requirements. Another organisation cannot provide the commissioned service given the code owned by the incumbent provider would not be transferrable. Failure to maintain this system, exposes the Council to a far greater risk of undetected cyber-attack.
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
Section V: Award of contract
Title: Security Operations Centre
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
14/08/2024
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Phoenix Software Limited
2548628
Bytes House
Surrey
KT22 7TW
UK
NUTS: UKJ26
The contractor is an SME:
No
V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot:
: 205 031.06
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Essex County Council
Chelmsford
UK
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
06/09/2024