How to Procure Activity’s Services for MoD
Activity are pleased to be part of the r2b2 consortium providing information security services to MOD.
Our consultants can be procured through r2b2 via either the ICS Catalogue or the Framework Agreement Technical Support – Issue 3 (FATS/3). Details of these two procurement routes are given below.
ICS CATALOGUE for IS Security Consultancy Support – r2b2 Limited
IS Security Consultancy Support Services are available to all MoD departments through the ICS Catalogue; an enabling arrangement under which companies have qualified through a competitive procurement process with the MoD to demonstrate that they meet a minimum set of mandatory and desirable capability criteria to deliver IS Security Consultancy Services to MoD customers. The advantage to MoD users of the ICS Catalogue is that it offers a simplified procurement route for the services required in the knowledge that:
- A company has agreed to a common set of Terms and Conditions
- The Company has a defined set of day-rates
- The assurance that the Company has been assessed by MoD and meets a minimum capability in delivering IS Security Consultancy Services
The ICS Catalogue offers a range of IT/IS Consultancy support and the IS Security Consultancy Services element is a 2-year Contract that started on 1 April 2009. Full information on the wide range of services available to MoD users of the Catalogue can be obtained from the following web-site www.icscat.mod.uk – once MoD users have registered on the site they can log on to obtained detailed information on all the services available and further details on all qualified suppliers (including day-rates).
The IT/IS Consultancy Catalogue is managed by the Technical Professional and Consultancy (TPAC) group of the DE&S Commercial Commands and Centre section based at Minerva House in Swindon and they operate a helpdesk on 0870 600 8910 should more information be required.
Activity is part of the r2b2 consortium providing the full range of IS security capabilities available through the catalogue including; Architecture Development; INFOSEC Support; INFOSEC Documentation; and Security CHECK of Networks, Systems and Components. Full details of our capabilities will be found under the r2b2 pages on the ICS Catalogue Web-Site for IT/IS Consultancy Support.
MoD Users of the Catalogue are encouraged to seek competitive quotations for packages of work by issuing to qualified suppliers a TASK TERMS OF REFERENCE (TTOR). Full details of how this is managed is available from the TPAC group at Swindon. Suppliers respond to the TTOR with a fully scope and priced solution including details of the Consultants that will deliver the required work. On selection of a preferred solution the MoD user can then place a Catalogue Order on the selected supplier using the MoD’s P2P system. Full details of r2b2’s Catalogue capabilities and pricing are already available on P2P for MoD users to select.
Framework Agreement Technical Support – issue 3 (FATS/3) – r2b2 Limited
The third iteration of FATS – or FATS/3 (Framework Agreement for Technical Support) has been developed by the Technical Professional and Consultancy (TPAC) group of DE&S Commercial Commands and Centre section to provide all MoD employees to be able to procure the Technical Support they need more efficiently. It has been found that there are over 400 unique technical capabilities that are required by the MoD and Suppliers that have qualified as members of FATS/3 must demonstrate to the MoD their expertise against these capabilities.
The capability information of all qualified FATS/3 Suppliers is captured on a software tool called the Market Knowledge Matrix (MKM) and this tool is available to all MoD employees. Full information on gaining access to this tool and the MKM can be gained from the TPAC team that manages FATS based in Foxhill Bath on 01225 882496.
Advantages and benefits of FATS are that it makes contracting faster by having terms and conditions pre-agreed together with rates for all qualified suppliers – for which there are over 300 on FATS/3. This enables MoD employees to access efficiently a single managed conduit in to the market place of suppliers and allows rapid identification of supplier capabilities. FATS can be used for:
- Technical Studies – research based activity including studies, prototyping and demonstrators
- Project Support – project based activities including consultancy, concept, development and in-services support
- Engineering Support – task based support including post design services, repair, calibration, testing and integration.
r2b2 Limited is a qualified supplier under a wide range of FATS/3 capabilities and we have partnered with them to offer information security advice, including Secure Computing Techniques, Distributed Systems Security, Encryption and Crypto Techniques. The full range of r2b2’s capabilities are available to MoD employees on the MKM.
Having used the MKM to identify suppliers capable of meeting the need for Technical Support, this information can be used in support of the Business Case for contract action along with a Statement of Requirement defining the Technical Support needed (with outputs) to allow appropriate MoD Commercial Team to request a competitive quotation from suppliers using a FATS TASKING ORDER FORM. Having selected the preferred supplier to meet the need for Technical Support, a contract and order can be set up using the MoD’s P2P system. r2b2 Limited are a registered user of the P2P system.
