Global Connectivity Services

The Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Secretary of State for the Department for International Development (DFID) and the British Council (BC) (the Procuring Bodies) have a requirement for global, secure, resilient, flexible and scalable enterprise wide voice and data connectivity services. These services are required to connect ministerial headquarters and other head offices in the United Kingdom with their respective embassies, consulates and other office locations totalling approximately 550 sites in 170 countries.

The FCO currently has a framework contract for the supply of global connectivity services and associated voice and video services. Each of the Procuring Bodies has a separate call off contract under the framework for connectivity services and for voice and video services. The call off contracts expire during 2018/19. The Procuring Bodies need to re-procure the connectivity services and the voice and video services. The connectivity services are the subject of this notice. The voice and video services are the subject of a separate procurement.

The Procuring Bodies will procure a framework contract for connectivity services. The scope of the connectivity services will be wide area network, local area network and internet services to approximately 550 sites in approximately 170 countries. Each of the Procuring Bodies will establish a call off contract under the framework. The scope of the call off contracts will include transition from the incumbent supplier, provision of the connectivity services and exit management services to support transition to a replacement service provider on expiry of the call off contracts.

The connectivity service supplier will be required to work with the provider of the voice and video service to ensure that the end to end service meets the requirements of the end users.

The precise scope of the services is subject to on-going review and will be finalised following supplier engagement activities.

The FCO will be the Contracting Authority for this procurement, acting on behalf of the Procuring Bodies and potentially other UK public bodies who may use the services.

Additional information:

The Partners have drafted a Connectivity Solution Prospectus that provides an overview of the requirement. Interested suppliers should register on Bravo Solution, the FCO's eSourcing Suite to request a copy of the Connectivity Solution Prospectus.

How to request a copy of the Connectivity Solution Prospectus:

1. Register (if you haven't already) on Bravo Solution (http://fco.bravosolution.co.uk) and search for project_1007 and then access pqq_496.
2. Once you have accessed pqq_469, send a message requesting a copy of the prospectus using the messaging functionality provided within pqq_469.

If you have not yet registered on Bravo Solution, this can be done online at https://fco.bravosolution.co.uk/ (registration is free and takes approximately five minutes).

By registering on Bravo Solution, interested suppliers will be in a position to 'express an interest' in the future FCO connectivity procurement when it is announced by the publication of an OJEU Contract Notice, initially on http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do and subsequently on https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk