Internal Communications Platform

AI-generated analysis of the documents. Check the official notice and any amendments for current submission details.

1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

Iarnród Éireann-Irish Rail (IÉ) requires a fully managed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) internal communications platform. The platform must be mobile-first, high availability, and cloud-hosted within the EEA/UK. It is intended to serve a geographically dispersed workforce of approximately 5,200 to 8,000 employees.

Key functionalities and requirements for the platform include:

• Platform Delivery: A SaaS solution with cloud-based storage, supported and hosted within the EEA/UK.
• Compliance: Adherence to GDPR, Irish Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018, IÉ IT policies, ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and the AI Act.
• User Experience: A consistent user experience across mobile and web channels, ensuring equitable access for all users.
• Availability: Continuous operation and availability on a 24x7x365 basis, with resilience and service continuity arrangements.
• Integration: Standards-based integration capabilities with existing and future enterprise systems, including identity management, HR, and collaboration platforms.
• Activity Feed: Functionality for staff to post and interact, alongside receiving content from IÉ.
• Messaging: Push notifications with read receipts for critical messaging.
• Targeted Messaging: Granular audience segmentation for posts and notifications based on role, department, location, shift, or custom tags.
• People Directory: A directory with user profile information.
• Content Management Integration: Ability to integrate with a Content Management System if required in the future.
• Micro-communities: Support for company-wide or team-specific micro-communities with automatic or specified enrolment, and public/private settings.
• Content Publishing: Capability to create, manage, and publish internal information pages with intuitive navigation and content discovery.
• Newsletter System: An internally focused newsletter creation and distribution system based on platform content.
• Unified Branding: A unified, IÉ-branded experience for news, communities, messaging, documents, and digital signage.
• Analytics: Provision of analytics on reach, engagement, and content performance, with export options.
• Data Import/Export: Capability for data import and export.
• Multilingual Support: Content creation, publication, and management in both English and Irish.
• Migration: Demonstration of experience in solution and configuration migration.
• Multimedia Support: Storage, organisation, management, and presentation of multimedia content (images, videos).
• Ease of Use: An intuitive and user-friendly experience requiring minimal training.
• Third-Party App Integration: Ability to launch third-party apps within the application.

The contract will establish a long-term arrangement for the provision, configuration, operation, maintenance, and support of the platform, including implementation, training, and documented service levels. The full lifecycle cost, including implementation and training, will be spread over the initial seven years as operational costs, with no capital expenditure expected.

3. Background & buyer context

Iarnród Éireann-Irish Rail (IÉ) is a designated activity company operating in the transport sector. Its procurement procedures are governed by the EU Utilities Directive (2014/25/EU) and the implementing Irish national legislation, the European Union (Award of Contracts by Utility Undertakings) Regulations 2016. This procurement process is being conducted in two stages: a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) followed by an Invitation to Tender (ITT) for shortlisted applicants. IÉ is seeking to modernise its internal communications infrastructure to better engage its workforce. The procurement is being conducted via the eTenders portal.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following minimum qualification criteria to proceed:

• Turnover requirement: A minimum average annual turnover of €200,000 (exclusive of VAT) for two of the past three audited financial years. Evidence must be provided via signed auditor's statements and audited accounts. Reliance on third-party resources for turnover is permitted, subject to specific conditions.
• Insurance: Not specified for this tender.
• Certifications: Applicants must provide evidence of certification to ISO 27001 or an equivalent standard for Information Security Management Systems. Compliance with ISO 9001:2015 or equivalent for Quality Management Systems is also required.
• Past experience: Applicants must provide evidence of at least two, and a maximum of three, relevant contracts delivered within the past five years. These contracts should be comparable in scale and complexity to the requirements of this tender.
• Personnel: Not specified for this tender.
• Geographic / facility constraints: The proposed solution must be cloud-hosted within the EEA/UK.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The PQQ stage focuses on pre-qualification and shortlisting. The award criteria for the subsequent tender stage are not detailed in the PQQ document. However, the PQQ outlines further shortlisting criteria for technical and professional ability, with a weighting of 60% allocated to Relevant Experience (Part 4 of the Questionnaire). Financial Standing and Cyber Security Compliance are assessed on a Pass/Fail basis. A Declaration of Eligibility is also a Pass/Fail requirement.

Criterion Weighting Sub-criteria