Planning

MOD Request for Information (RFI) - Army Operational Legacy Branch (AOLB) Archive digitisation Proof of Concept (PoC)

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

16 Mar 2023 at 15:59

Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is planning a procurement process titled "MOD Request for Information (RFI) - Army Operational Legacy Branch (AOLB) Archive digitisation Proof of Concept (PoC)" in the IT services industry category. The procurement stage is at the planning phase with an engagement end date set for 31st March 2023. The MOD is looking for a software solution to develop a fully searchable electronic archive of material stored, meeting ISO 10002 standards and legal obligations. The procurement is initiated through a tender process, and the contracting authority contact person is Jon Burt from the Defence Artificial Intelligence Centre.

This tender by the MOD offers opportunities for IT service providers experienced in software development and consulting. Businesses with capabilities in creating searchable databases with robust search and optical character recognition functionalities are well-suited to compete. The procurement is targeted at a wide range of delivery addresses, including British Oversea Territories, United Kingdom, and Europe. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are specifically identified as suitable for this opportunity, indicating a focus on encouraging participation from smaller businesses in the procurement process.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

MOD Request for Information (RFI) - Army Operational Legacy Branch (AOLB) Archive digitisation Proof of Concept (PoC)

Notice Description

The Army Operational Legacy branch (AOLB) in collaboration with the Defence Artificial intelligence Centre (DAIC) would like to develop a proof of concept (PoC) for a fully searchable electronic archive of the material store. The material located within the store is of varying age, format, and condition. A sample of 2000 documents are being digitised for this PoC and a software solution is now required to provide robust search and optical character recognition (OCR) functionality over the digitised documents and their metadata to meet legal standards. The digital archive must be searchable to a degree of accuracy that meets the ISO 10002 and legal obligations of the MOD to disclose all relevant records pertaining to an inquest or investigation. A generic capability is sought that supports both filtering on metadata and search over textual document content. No other criteria is defined to allow for creativity during the PoC but is should be noted that accuracy is paramount - false positives are preferable over missing relevant documents. The software will be tested against current processes to evaluate its performance and suitability. The MOD would like to invite industry to provide feedback on the following questions: 1. Do you have a COTS product, or can you develop a MOTS solution that can demonstrably search across the provided dataset? 2. What is your licensing model, with costs? 3. Can the solution be deployed to run standalone in a secure environment and guaranteed to run on UK servers only or is it dependent on public cloud resources? 4. Do you have Security Cleared (SC) individuals within your organisation? Your response should be sent to the Contracting Authority email address as detailed in this RFI (Jon.Burt111@mod.gov.uk). Your response should be sent in Microsoft Word format. Please note that the MOD Gateway will only accept emails less than 60MB in size.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-b5fd17-d40aa844-7893-4558-99f0-6e1eb39302e0
Publication Source
Contracts Finder
Latest Notice
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/187f346d-d2a0-46a6-a35e-de76c1b63337
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Not specified
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

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

CPV Codes

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

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
16 Mar 20232 years ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
31 Mar 2023Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Not Specified
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
CORSHAM
Postcode
SN13 9NR
Post Town
Swindon
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLK South West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLK7 Gloucestershire and Wiltshire
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLK72 Wiltshire
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Wiltshire
Electoral Ward
Corsham Ladbrook
Westminster Constituency
Chippenham

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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