Defra Cloud Infrastructure Engineering Service - Extension

Description

Description of the procurement before modification
The digital services delivered by CCOE provide a critical service for Defra's user base >30,000 users which require service continuity for Defra to deliver a reliable platform service in its primary cloud environments (AWS/Azure). The CCOE Microsoft M365 platform administration team provides platform support to the common Microsoft platforms including, but not limited to, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Power Platform, Dynamics, and Teams. CCOE provide subject matter expertise on the products and services and platform level administration, including problem and incident management.  
Description of the modification
This contract is being modified in accordance with Regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The modification will extend the contract for 4 months from 1/8/2024 to 30/11/2024.  No other changes are being made to the scope of service.  
Reasons for modification
The procurement of the new CCoE requirement will not be completed in time to re-procure replacement CCoE services prior to expiry of the contract in July 2024 (as a result of this procurement being contingent on a related piece of work relating to the wider Defra hosting environment). A short-term extension is necessary therefore to allow finalisation of work that is in flight and an appropriate period of transition to reduce service impact. A change in contractor would give rise to significant inconvenience and substantial duplication of costs as the new contractor would need to deploy significant resource to take on inflight projects, along with service risk due to insufficient time to complete a service transition and value for money considerations (due to the unattractive duration of contract to the market).  
Previous publications
For previous Contracts Finder publications, please use search references below:
16/11/21: tender_247757/1014592
22/12/23/: CF-0209400D8d000003VQwdEAG

Review Body: DEFRA, details contained within publication