TENDER

CITIZENS ADVICE 1066 (CA1066) ARE PUTTING PROVISION OF OUR IT SUPPORT SERVICES OUT TO TENDER

CA1066 is a local charity providing free, impartial, accredited advice across Hastings and Rother and is part of the national Citizens Advice network.

CA1066’s objectives for this tender process are to secure a high-quality provider of IT Support, who are able to demonstrate a clear understanding of our needs, and provide comprehensive support whilst achieving excellent value for money.

Please read OUR TENDER instructions before responding, to ensure that your tender meets our requirements. Citizens Advice 1066 reserves the right to refuse non-compliant tenders.

Key dates

• Issue of Invitation to tender: 6th February 2025
• Closing date for completed tenders: 25th February 2025 at noon (GMT)
• Shortlisting: w/c 3rd March 2025
• Select supplier, Finalise & Agree contract: w/c 10th March 2025
• Period of agreement: The initial contract period will be for 3 years, with potential to roll forward on an annual basis.

 

 

Questions and Answers

Please see below for questions submitted during the tender period and our responses.

What is the reoccurring day to day issue you have with this current set up?

No specific issues with the existing service.

What would be the timeline and goals for moving everything to the cloud?  How much input would you want on the plan for the rollout?  

We are looking to the service provider for input on the plan and timeline of moving the service to the cloud as efficiently and with as least disruption to the service as possible. We expect the provider to recommend the timeline.

How would you like to handle old devices (like laptops or printers) when they are no longer needed? Do you have a plan for replacing or recycling them?

We are looking to the service provider to recommend a solution.

How many super users you have so we can allocate a device for them?

Three members of the team have this level of access to some of our platforms.

Are you going to provide a laptop to the volunteers if yes how many would that be? 

Some volunteers use laptops and some PCs. The numbers of volunteers, staff, PCs and laptops currently required is set out in the tender specification.

How much budget has been allocated for this project?

We are not setting a guide price as stated in the tender specification.

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What is the current server operating system?

Server 2012 R2

How much data is there to move from on-premise servers?

62.2GB

Is there scope in the budget to upgrade licences as this will significantly make life easier?

Upgrades to software and hardware are on a rolling basis over a 3-5 year period.

Confirm numbers of actual users to be supported/using hardware.

This is set out in the tender specification.

Ai – is this just exploratory?

Use of AI will be a reality during the contract period

Wifi solution – is this still supported by the vendor?

As in the tender specification Wi-Fi is used E.g. to support hot-desking by staff and working by partners in our office.

You mention there are 3 printers. Do these include the two that are already provided by Newman or are these in addition to?

Of the three printers, two are provided by Newmans.

If so, could you please include what models you currently have and if they suit your needs?

Yes, it suits our needs. The two printers provided by Newmans are SHARP MX-2651. The additional printer is a HP Office Jet Pro 8710.

What are the needs of each printer location? – How many pages per month / colour / A4 only or A3 / fax / scanning requirements / number of trays / booklet or stapling requirements / maximum dimensions (if relevant / desktop)

This is not relevant to the IT tender as specified.

Would you be looking for these printers to also be managed on a cost per page basis like your current copiers with us to include all toner, parts and labour?

This is not relevant to the IT tender as specified.

You mentioned that you would like to make use of softphones wherever possible. Does this mean you would also like to explore your current telecoms agreement and look into softphone solutions? If so, this is fine an we can explore this also. I will of course have some more questions surrounding this though.

We will be considering our softphone requirements in due course. This is outside the scope of this tender process.