Government Procurement Service (hereafter referred to as the Authority) is putting in place a pan government collaborative Framework Agreement for use by UK public sector bodies identified at section VI.3 (and any future successors to these organisations), which include Central Government Departments and their Arm's Length Bodies and Agencies, Non Departmental Public Bodies, NHS bodies and wider public sector organisations, including Local Authorities.

The above Public Sector Bodies have a need for the direct provision of support and maintenance for Enterprise Application Software inclusive of any customisation and independent of normal product life-cycles as defined by the relevant Software Owner (for example to provide continued support beyond a product's stated end of life). Services required will include without being limited to: break-fix support; advice on available patches; development, testing and implementation of bug fixes/workarounds/patches/updates; monitoring operation to assure application and information availability and integrity; maintaining and sharing a knowledge-base of known issues and solutions; assistance with upgrading, replacing, or otherwise changing the Enterprise Application Software.

The Authority reserves the right for an electronic auction to be held by Public Sector bodies during further competition among the parties to the Framework Agreement(s).

The number of Potential Providers to be awarded a Framework Agreement under Lots 1 and 2 (as described in Annex B) will be limited to a maximum of 5 Suppliers per Lot.

Lots 3 and 4 (as described in Annex B) will have no limitation on the number of Potential Providers awarded a Framework Agreement.

The Framework Agreement will have an Initial Period of two years with the option to extend for two subsequent 12 month periods.