£350m managed email framework released

A managed email framework tender worth £120m – £350m for the procurement of NHSmail2 has been released.

EHI reported earlier this month that a tender would be out in February following Treasury approval for £168m in funding to transition to a new NHSmail service.

The NHS will pick a new supplier from the managed email framework, which will be available for all public sector bodies to use. Twenty suppliers are expected to be on the framework, which is worth up to £350m over two years.

The framework is divided into three lots, based on the size of the implementation. Lot one is for small volume and will cover up to 10,000 mailboxes. Lot two is for medium volume and covers up to 100,000 mailboxes, while the large volume implementation will cover 100,000+ mailboxes.

Core components include: secure email; secure email gateway; mobile device management; white pages and directory service; business partner secure email; and email router.

Extra components may also be offered as add-ons that users can purchase, such as instant messaging and remote storage.

Health and Social Care Information Centre programme director Mark Reynolds told EHI this month that a contract award for version two of NHSmail is expected in 2014.

The NHSmail2 outline business case recently approved by Treasury, covers the procurement of a new email service and continuation of the existing service and is worth £168m over five years.

The contract for NHSmail was awarded to Cable and Wireless in 2004, is worth around £30m a year and covers 650,000 NHS users. Reynolds said the number of users may increase under the new contract depending on the bids received.

Requests to participate in the managed email framework procurement are due by 3 April.