GÉANT, the collaboration of European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), is pleased to announce the opening of a market consultation for the upcoming ‘OCRE 2024’ tender, with the issue of a related Prior Information Notice (PIN).
Towards the GÉANT Cloud Framework ‘OCRE 2024’
As one of the main high-level objectives of the GN5-1 project, GÉANT is currently preparing the re-procurement of its flagship cloud framework. Now gearing up towards its third iteration, this successful initiative has driven innovation and digital transformation across Europe since 2016 by enabling Research and Education institutions to find, acquire and consume vetted commercial cloud services, whilst benefiting from reduced costs and easier procurement procedures.
The upcoming GÉANT Cloud Framework ‘OCRE 2024’ is set to succeed the current 2020 OCRE framework (also known as IaaS+), delivered by the EC-funded OCRE project and now counting a rapidly growing number of more than 800 institutions in 27 European countries actively consuming public cloud services.
The procurement of the GÉANT Cloud Framework ‘OCRE 2024’ will be carried by the GÉANT Association in accordance with the EU Directive of Public Procurement, and with the aim of ensuring maximum contractual compatibility across participating countries. It is anticipated that the procurement phase will commence in the first quarter of 2024.
By aggregating the requirements and demand of the pan-European Research and Education community into a single public tender, GÉANT aims to act as a bridge between Research and Education institutions and the commercial cloud service providers, thus minimising the barriers between the demand and supply sides. As a central purchasing body, GÉANT represents and advances the interests of its Research and Education community, allowing institutions to easily access to suitable services with a substantial reduction of costs and procurement effort.
As with the previous 2020 OCRE tender, the new ‘OCRE 2024’ tender will aim to procure a broad and varied portfolio of IaaS+ services, meaning Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offerings, plus Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.
The market consultation
To make the procurement of the GÉANT Cloud Framework ‘OCRE 2024’ as successful as possible, GÉANT is inviting economic operators to respond to a market consultation, with the issue of a related Prior Information Notice (PIN) consisting of a number of questions on the proposed requirements and criteria to inform the development of the procurement.
Open until the 9th of October 2023 (the 26th of September for Q&A), the market consultation aims to ensure that the upcoming procurement process will allow bidders to provide their best offer based on the demand, while being compliant with all relevant laws and regulation.
Monique Pellinkhof, Senior Procurement Specialist at GÉANT who leads the re-procurement of the GÉANT Cloud Framework says: “With this Prior Information Notice we aim to engage with the market in an early stage, taking into account all the feedback received from our Research and Education community and from the users of the commercial cloud services, assessing both supply and demand before GÉANT formally goes to market.”
Particular focus throughout the Prior Information Notice is given to possible lot structure, usage of standards and certifications, to identity management requirements (including support to eduGAIN), to training aspects and minimised ingress/egress charges, to the need for minimum discount rates, to the pillars of sustainability, data sovereignty and privacy, to name a few.
Commercial cloud service providers interested in participating in the tender for the GÉANT Cloud Framework ‘OCRE 2024’ are invited to read the Prior Information Notice (PIN) and respond by the 9th of October 2023 at https://s2c.mercell.com/today/46183
