Tender

WP2248.1 & WP2248.2: SMS Provider(s) for GOV.UK Notify

GOVERNMENT DIGITAL SERVICE

This public procurement record has 5 releases in its history.

TenderAmendment

24 Sep 2024 at 15:42

Tender Notice
TenderAmendment

10 Sep 2024 at 17:19

Tender Notice
TenderAmendment

05 Sep 2024 at 16:40

Tender Notice
TenderAmendment

22 Aug 2024 at 18:42

Tender Notice
Tender

22 Aug 2024 at 18:21

Tender Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is seeking SMS providers for the GOV.UK Notify platform, which helps public sector teams send notifications to users through various methods, including text messages. The procurement, classified under Telecommunications network and IT services, entails a two-year contract starting from 3rd December 2024 to 2nd December 2026, with potential extensions. The procurement method is a selective, competitive procedure with negotiation, and the tender period closes at 5pm on 25th September 2024. The project involves providing over 3.8 billion SMS fragments annually, covering services across central and local government, as well as the NHS. The response deadline for updated documentation has been extended to 31st September 2024.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses experienced in SMS services, especially those with robust infrastructure to ensure redundancy and no single points of failure. SUited for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this tender requires suppliers to maintain high performance and reliability standards, such as high message delivery rates and rapid processing speeds. The competitive nature and potential for long-term partnership make this an excellent prospect for businesses looking to expand their public sector engagement and secure substantial, steady work volumes subject to government policies and service team usage.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

WP2248.1 & WP2248.2: SMS Provider(s) for GOV.UK Notify

Notice Description

GOV.UK Notify is a digital communications platform, developed and run by the Government Digital Service (GDS). Notify allows public sector service teams to send notifications (text message, email and post) to their users. The notifications are typically status updates, requests for action, MFA codes, receipts of applications or supporting information, and reminders. The messages are sent via an API or manually through a web interface. Currently there are over 8,700 service teams using GOV.UK Notify, from over 1,500 public sector organisations across central and local government and the NHS. Notify sends an average of 3 million SMS fragments a day, regularly achieving peaks of 7 million. Current forecasting work indicates that Notify will send 3.8 billion SMS fragments during FY 25/26 and 3.9 billion SMS fragments during FY 26/27, as Notify continues to work closely with the NHS, however this figure may vary significantly due to changes in demand. Many Notify services send messages that are longer than one fragment and the average message sent via Notify is 2 fragments long. Notify SMS messages have a high average delivery rate of 95.7%. Notify uses two concurrently integrated SMS suppliers to ensure a resilient service. Typically, traffic is shared between the two based on supplier performance (speed of processing) and load. Ultimately GDS reserves the right to allocate work between suppliers at its absolute discretion and there is no guarantee of volume as it's influenced by both government policy and how the services choose to use Notify. We're looking to procure SMS suppliers for 2 years, with options for contract extension. The unit price for a single SMS fragment will be fixed throughout the duration of the contract, independent of volume. To meet Notify's SMS redundancy requirements the suppliers should utilise independent computing and network infrastructures throughout their respective end-end services, avoiding any single points of failure that could simultaneously impact both providers. Suppliers are asked to provide sufficient information in their responses to enable GDS to evaluate this. In the event the top 'two' scoring suppliers share the same sub-processors, The Contracting Authority reserve the right to either; (a) Withdraw the second contract from this competition and re-tender, or (b) Award the second contract to the next best scoring supplier that uses a different sub-processor. This is to ensure service resilience is maintained through use of different sub-processors to the top scoring tenderer. Prospective tenderers must read the attached documentation and return via email as per instructions, to gds-digital-buyer@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk Additional information: *Updated document. * Criteria 10.04 has been amended to; "Are you signed up to, or agree to follow, the A2P Code of Conduct https://mobileecosystemforum.com/programmes/future-of-messaging/fraud-management/trust-in-enterprise-messaging/ ?" Please either use the updated response sheet provided or amend our working bid document to reflect the change. The deadline for responses has been extended to 5pm on Monday 31 September to accommodate the change(s).

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-b5fd17-688e05e0-2ffc-47d3-9102-752d3805df22
Publication Source
Contracts Finder
Latest Notice
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/c9afefb6-26b6-4102-b081-e226304b837f
Current Stage
Tender
All Stages
Tender

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Tender Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Selective
Procurement Method Details
Competitive procedure with negotiation (above threshold)
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

32 - Radio, television, communication, telecommunication and related equipment

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

CPV Codes

32412100 - Telecommunications network

72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£1
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
24 Sep 20241 years ago
Submission Deadline
30 Sep 2024Expired
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
3 Dec 2024 - 2 Dec 2026 1-2 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Active
Lots Status
Not Specified
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
GOVERNMENT DIGITAL SERVICE
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
E1 8QS
Post Town
East London
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI4 Inner London - East
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI42 Tower Hamlets
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Tower Hamlets
Electoral Ward
Whitechapel
Westminster Constituency
Bethnal Green and Stepney

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts. 

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