Request

‘I would like to request information under the Freedom of Information Act. The information that I require relates to a specific telephone maintenance contract. The contract information sent by the organisation previously has now expired please can you provide me with a new update of the telephone maintenance contract: Please can you send me the following contract information with regards to the organisation’s telephone system maintenance contract (VOIP or PBX, other) for hardware and Software maintenance and support if all the information is still the same besides the contracts dates please send just the new contract dates. It would be much appreciated. 1. Contract Type: Maintenance, Managed, shared (If so, please state orgs) 2. Existing Supplier: If there is more than one supplier, please split each contract up individually. 3. Annual Average Spend: The annual average spends for this contract and please provide the average spend over the past 3 years for each provider
4. Hardware Brand: The primary hardware brand of the organisation’s telephone system. 5. Number of telephone users: 6. Contract Duration: please include any extension periods. 7. Contract Expiry Date: Please provide me with the day/month/year. 8. Contract Review Date: Please provide me with the day/month/year. 9. Application(s) running on PBX/VOIP systems: Applications that run on the actual PBX or VOIP system. E.g., Contact Centre, Communication Manager. 10. Telephone System Type: PBX, VOIP, Lync etc 11. Contract Description: Please provide me with a brief description of the overall service provided under this contract. 12. Go to Market: How where these services procured, please provide me with either the tender notice or the framework reference number. Please specify if procured through other routes. 13. Contact Detail: Of the person from within the organisation responsible for each contract full Contact details including full name, job title, direct contact number and direct email address.

If the service support area has more than one provider for telephone maintenance, then can you please split each contract up individually for each provider.
If the contract is a managed service or is a contract that provides more than just telephone maintenance, please can you send me all the information specified above including the person from within the organisation responsible for that particular contract. If the maintenance for telephone systems is maintained in-house, please can you provide me with: 1. Number of telephone Users: 2. Hardware Brand: The primary hardware brand of the organisation’s telephone system. 3. Application(s) running on PBX/VOIP systems: Applications that run on the actual PBX or VOIP system. E.g., Contact Centre, Communication Manager. 4. Contact Detail: Of the person from with the organisation responsible for telephone maintenance full Contact details including full name, job title, direct contact number and direct email address.

Also, if the contract is due to expire, please provide me with the likely outcome of the expiring contract. If this is a new contract or a new supplier, please can you provide me with a short list of suppliers that bid on this service/support contract?

Response

Second Set of Questions

Please note these are not applicable as maintenance is done via the managed service.

Questions 2, 6 to 8, 11 to 13

Under Section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. The information you requested is available at Contracts Finder at the below link:

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d1a241b6-ab32-4da9-857c-5130bcbc76b8?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Question 1

Managed service.

Question 3

The information you requested is being withheld as it falls under the exemption in sections 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. In applying this exemption, we have balanced the public interest in withholding the information against the public interest in disclosing the information. We have set out below the factors considered when deciding that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Factors for disclosure

• Public accountability to ensure public money is being used effectively and getting value for money when purchasing goods and services

• Ensure NHSBSA commercial activities are conducted in an open and honest way

Factors for withholding

• The disclosure of the information would reveal how much the NHSBSA pays per licence.

• The disclosure of this information could leave the incumbent supplier at a commercial disadvantage in that third parties may use such information to target business away from the suppliers concerned.

• Potentially serious detrimental effect on the commercial interests of the Authority due to a reduction in the effectiveness of the competitive tendering process.

• We are currently undertaking a procurement exercise for these services via a Crown Commercial Service Framework (Network Services 2).

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/43

Question 4

Avaya

Question 5

An exact number is not held. As of January 2023 the headcount of the NHSBSA was 3,912, although not all staff have their own desk phone.

Question 9

Communication Manager, Contact centre (CMS).

Question 10

VOIP