Public sector technology frameworks put out to tender

Three national IT frameworks worth up to £87million have been put out to tender by the Scottish Government as part of efforts to strengthen technology within the public sector.

The three frameworks, which are being advertised on Public Contracts Scotland, cover cloud computing and proprietary devices, mobile client devices as well as thin client devices.

Each of the frameworks will allow various parts of the public sector, including emergency services, health as well as colleges and universities, to purchase necessary devices.

A national framework for cloud computing and proprietary devices, which is intended to help public sector bodies access cloud-based services, has been valued at between £15m and £20m.

A second one for mobile client devices has been valued between £50m and £60m, while estimated total value against a third for thin client devices is between £5m and £7.5m.

The agreements, which will each run for a period of up to four years, are – with the exception of cloud computing and proprietary devices – a re-let of current frameworks.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The framework agreements are in line with the Digital Public Services Strategy Scotland’s Digital Future: Delivery of Public Services.

“The current agreements have been very successful in combining demand to attract competitive pricing whilst delivering high quality products and also making the latest environmental and energy efficiency credentials mandatory to support carbon reduction goals.

“These will be single supplier frameworks which will provide ease of access to client devices for Scottish public sector bodies.”

Frameworks for desktop client devices, workstation client devices - mobile and fixed - and tablet client devices will follow later in the year, the spokeswoman added.