---
title: "Vodafone GCF Extension Contract - Further extension of the email relay and email filtering services"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0291d9"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0291d9"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0291d9.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0291d9.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "THE MINISTER FOR THE CABINET OFFICE ACTING THROUGH CROWN COMMERCIAL SERVICE"
published: "2021-02-09"
---

# Vodafone GCF Extension Contract - Further extension of the email relay and email filtering services

Buyer: THE MINISTER FOR THE CABINET OFFICE ACTING THROUGH CROWN COMMERCIAL SERVICE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0291d9

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## Summary

The procurement process for the Vodafone GCF Extension Contract is being managed by The Minister for the Cabinet Office acting through Crown Commercial Service, with the aim of extending email relay and filtering services, a key component of the Government Convergence Framework (GCF) utilised by public sector bodies. This service, primarily in the postal and telecommunications industry, is located in the United Kingdom and has reached the Award stage. The contract, valued at £3,300,000, was signed on 6 March 2020, and this extension will cater to the limited remaining users until they transition to open market solutions.

This contract presents significant opportunities for businesses involved in telecommunications and IT services, especially those with capabilities in email solutions and secure communications. Companies that provide innovative software packages and information systems may find the upcoming replacement procurement processes, scheduled for later in 2021 and 2022, particularly beneficial. The lack of market interest in this specific service may open doors for new entrants and alternatives, thereby fostering competition and growth within this sector.

## Notice

The existing contract is for Vodafone provided Government Convergence Framework (GCF) services to be supplied from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2021. The GCF is the "intelligent core" of the Public Services Network (PSN) which is used for secure communication by numerous bodies across the public sector. This extension will extend the email relay and filtering services (one of four lots) for use by those public sector bodies that still have a limited requirement for this legacy technology. The new one year extension covers a period during which these bodies will transition away to new email services sourced from the open telecommunications and software markets. The existing Vodafone GCF contract has four lots; Domain Name Server (DNS) services, email relay and filtering services, peer to peer service (to enable communication between PSN and other government networks) and professional services. Only email relay and filtering services are proposed for extension.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The email relay service enables users of the PSN to communicate securely with each other and third parties via email. Users comprise multiple public sector bodies across central government and the wider public sector (e.g. local government). The email filtering services are used by the same user group and scan PSN email communications for dangerous content such as suspicious website links and spam email. The extension will be awarded to Vodafone. This is legacy technology and a previous further competition to replace the technology provided in this lot attracted no bidders. Service continuity is required to enable transition of remaining users to open market replacement solutions.

### Procurement Information

The extension is made in compliance with Article 72(1)(b) Directive 2014/24 and Regulation 72(1)(b) Public Contracts Regulations 2015. There are no alternative supplier as this lot attracted no bidders; there is no market interest. Multiple public sector bodies will not be able to transition from the existing email relay and filtering services provided under the Vodafone GCF contract by its expiry on 31 March 2021. The loss of email capability on the PSN will undermine delivery of several UK citizen services. Although the exact number of users is to be finalised at the time of publication, the number is expected to be no more than 100 out of an original user base of over 500. The remaining users will use the contract extension period to transition to open market email solutions, a process already completed for the overwhelming majority of original users. There is no long term future for the email relay and filtering services as provided. Therefore, for economic and technical reasons and due to the significant inconvenience and substantial duplication of costs for the contracting authorities, as already demonstrated in a procurement which for this lot attracted no bidders, the only supplier available and willing to continue to provide these services is Vodafone. Other suppliers who are interested in providing replacement services will have opportunities to bid for these during 2021 and 2022. In the meantime, this contract extension is required in order to provide service continuity to remaining email relay and filtering users.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/002674-2021 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 9 Feb 2021 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 6 Mar 2020 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £3,300,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE MINISTER FOR THE CABINET OFFICE ACTING THROUGH CROWN COMMERCIAL SERVICE |
| Locality | LIVERPOOL |
| Post town | Liverpool |
| Postcode | L3 9PP |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLD North West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLD7 Merseyside |
| ITL 3 | TLD72 Liverpool |
| Local authority | Liverpool |
| Electoral ward | City Centre North |
| Westminster constituency | Liverpool Riverside |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | VODAFONE |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 48 - Software package and information systems
- 64 - Postal and telecommunications services

### Codes

- 48000000 - Software package and information systems
- 64000000 - Postal and telecommunications services

## Release History

- 9 Feb 2021 at 22:56 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/002674-2021

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/crown-commercial-service

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0291d9. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0291d9.json.