Digital Directorate Partner – Networks, Security & Applications Management

Scottish Water Digital Directorate is dedicated to delivering digital and technology services that provide measurable value to our core business operations. Collaborating closely with our business partners, we focus on supporting our three strategic objectives. We have successfully implemented a cloud-first strategy, replacing many of our legacy enterprise applications with evergreen SaaS solutions. Our primary cloud platform, Microsoft Azure, serves as the foundation for building and running innovative solutions.

Analytics and data science are at the heart of our offerings, and data and information management is a key capability of the Digital Directorate.

Scottish Water is also modernising our network offerings, adopting a software-defined network approach. To meet emerging business, customer, and regulatory demands, we require a digital supply chain that facilitates rapid solution delivery while supporting the ongoing maintenance and modernisation of our infrastructure. We adhere to industry best practices, ensuring compliance with data and technology regulations applicable to a public body in the water sector, a critical component of national infrastructure.

The convergence of IT, Smart IoT Technology, and Operational Technology (OT) is accelerating. Our assets are increasingly connected to the internet through a growing array of sensors, offering opportunities to enhance services, improve data analytics, and reduce costs and carbon emissions via an intelligent asset base. Compliance with regulatory standards, is essential and supplier partnerships that seamlessly integrate these complex digital innovations with engineering practices across capital investments are crucial.

Scottish Water seeks supplier partnerships that operate at scale, with extensive experience and expertise. We value suppliers who can manage a broad supply chain and engage with niche providers as needed. Our partners should be integrators and expert advisers in AI, automation, digital twins, and other relevant technologies.

We aim to establish relationships with partners who have strategies supporting modern engineering practices like Platform Engineering, DevOps, CI/CD, Automation, Software Defined Networking, Zero Trust, and IT/OT convergence, ensuring secure technology transformation.

Scottish Water is inviting partners to collaborate with us in the following areas, which align with the offerings we will present to the market:

Networks & Security (Master Service Agreement)

Our preference is for converged network and security services in line with our approach to exploit software defined networking. Bidders with capabilities in security services or network services only are however encouraged to pre-qualify. Scottish Water will determine direction on converged or discrete services post PQQ. Bidders for these lots will be assessed on their ability to deliver change projects.

This category also includes a requirement for interim on-premises data centre support. However, the specific arrangements for this will be decided after the PQQ process, and bidders without data centre support capabilities will not be at a disadvantage.

Applications Management (Master Service Agreement)

Service includes applications management for core line of business (LOB) applications along with a service that supports business critical Azure cloud applications, integrations and analytics solutions, along with the enterprise-scale platform they consume. We also require a service that supports our M365 platform and its components. Bidders may pre-qualify across all Lots under this service or select the LOB services only or the Microsoft Azure and M365 support services only.

Scottish Water are considering insourcing the Service Desk function, but remain interested in the opportunities that the market can offer before finalising decision.