The Scottish Government has approved eight suppliers for its Hosting Services Framework, including data center providers Iomart, Onyx Group, Pulsant, and Brightsolid. 

The framework lets public sector bodies, including the NHS and educational institutions, buy hosting services without a lengthy procurement process. It covers data hosting services including colocation, private cloud, hybrid cloud, public cloud and community cloud.The initial list of suppliers, which also includes four large service providers - Atos, CGI, Fujitsu and Capita - was chosen from approximately 20 bidders.

Savings on the way

The framework will operate for an initial two years until May 2017, which could be extended. During the first two-year period, the Scottish government expects the framework to handle betwen £15m and £30m of business. Officials predict it will deliver savings of up to 16 percent on hosting services.

Buyers can purchase services through a mini-competition tender process via the framework where all suppliers are invited to bid, or they can purchase direct from the best value offering in a catalogue. 

“We are delighted to be on the new Scottish Government Framework,” said Richard Higgs, CEO of Brightsolid, at the opening of Brightsolid’s Aberdeen data center last week.  “The framework allows us to strengthen relationships in the Scottish public sector that we have built over the last 15 years.”

Framework suppliers must meet standards of efficiency, security, reliability and innovation. The framework does not include software as a service (SaaS), fully managed IT services, unified communication, the creation of applications, web design and development and hardware.