Request for Tenders for the Provision of Cloud-Hosted Services and Capacity

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1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

The Revenue Commissioners require the provision of scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud-hosted Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) capabilities. This procurement aims to support the development, deployment, and management of new digital services, and to facilitate the migration of existing workloads to the cloud. The services will be hosted within a Revenue-exclusive virtual cloud tenancy, with all data, including backups, required to remain within the European Economic Area (EEA). Explicit written authorization is necessary for any data transfer outside of the Revenue tenancy, and such transfers must adhere to lawful mechanisms.

The scope encompasses the following key activities and components:

• Cloud Capacity Provision: Supplying a variety of cloud-hosted IaaS and PaaS services.
• Revenue-Exclusive Tenancy: All services must operate within a dedicated virtual cloud tenancy for Revenue.
• Data Residency: All data, including backups, must be stored exclusively within the EEA.
• Data Control: Data and its copies must remain solely within Revenue’s cloud tenancy, unless explicit written authorization is granted by Revenue for lawful transfer.
• Multi-Cloud Strategy Support: The solution must be compatible with Revenue's existing multi-cloud environments, which include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure Cloud, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Tenderers may propose solutions utilizing these platforms or an alternative cloud platform.
• Service Categories: The tender specifies requirements for:
• Compute Services: Including virtual desktop workloads (standard, disaster recovery, power user) and provisioning services infrastructure.
• Storage Services: Including HBase-compatible cloud storage.
• Networking Services: Including general networking capabilities.
• Application Hosting: Support for migrating existing cloud service workloads (Kubernetes, clustered virtual machines, containerized workloads) and hosting new cloud-native services.
• Environmental Considerations: Tenderers must demonstrate adherence to environmental standards, including energy management (ISO 50001, EMAS, ISO 14001) and energy efficiency calculations according to EN 50600-4-38 and EN 50600-4-6:2020.
• Security and Governance: Upholding high standards of security, data protection, and governance is paramount. Compliance with standards such as ISO 27001, NIST, NIS2, GDPR, and the EU AI Act is required.
• Onboarding, Governance, and Support: The proposed solution must include a defined onboarding process, a robust governance model, and a comprehensive support structure, with guaranteed response times based on severity.
• Exit Planning: A detailed Exit Plan must be developed and submitted within 12 months of the agreement's effective date, covering the period starting at least 12 months prior to the scheduled expiry of the contract.

3. Background & buyer context

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners is undertaking a digital transformation and IT modernization initiative. This procurement is a key component of that strategy, aiming to move away from a predominantly on-premise IT estate towards leveraging public cloud environments. Revenue currently operates established landing zones within several public cloud ecosystems, including AWS, Azure, and GCP. The objective is to procure scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud capacity to host new digital services and potentially migrate existing workloads. This initiative aligns with government policy to encourage participation by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and to promote the efficient use of public funds through cost-effective cloud solutions, including leveraging the low-carbon and energy efficiency benefits of cloud platforms.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

To be considered for this tender, bidders must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Turnover requirement: An average annual turnover of €22,500,000 (Ex VAT) for each of the last three financial years. If the tenderer was established more recently, the equivalent annual turnover must meet or exceed €22,500,000 (Ex VAT) for each year of operation. Evidence must be provided via an auditor’s signed statement or audited accounts.
• Insurance: The successful tenderer must hold the following insurances for the term of the Services Contract:
• Employer’s Liability: €12.7 million limit for any one claim or series of claims arising out of a single occurrence.
• Public Liability: €6.5 million limit for any one claim or series of claims arising out of a single occurrence.
• Cyber Liability: €10 million limit in the aggregate per insurance year.
• Certifications: While not explicitly listed as mandatory selection criteria with specific numerical thresholds, tenderers are expected to demonstrate adherence to relevant standards including ISO 27001, NIST, NIS2, GDPR, and the EU AI Act. Compliance with ISO 20000-1 or equivalent for service management processes is also cited. Energy management systems (ISO 50001, EMAS, ISO 14001) are relevant for environmental criteria.
• Past experience: Not specified for this tender.
• Personnel: Not specified for this tender.
• Geographic / facility constraints: All data, including backups, must remain within the EEA.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The award of the contract will be based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) principle, determined by a combination of technical merit and price. The scoring will be allocated as follows:

Criterion Weight (%) Sub-criteria