The clients are the public state broadcasters united in the Association of Public Broadcasters of the Federal Republic of Germany (ARD), the Second German Television (ZDF) and Deutschlandradio (DR), represented by the management of the contribution service of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio (hereinafter referred to as "Beitragsservice" or "AG").

The subject of the services advertised by the contribution service is the award of the operation of the M365 platform as managed services with a fixed term of 2 years from 01.08.2023 as well as two extension options on the same terms by 12 months each.

In order to maintain a powerful and modern IT landscape, the client is looking for a competent and experienced "Managed Services" service provider (hereinafter referred to as "AN") for the M365 environment. Although the sovereignty over the IT systems remains with the client, there is an expectation of the contractor to provide the commissioned service processes with the highest level of expertise, personal responsibility as well as proactive and solution-oriented action and thus to reliably support the client.

The term "managed services" refers to the client as the holistic technical and content-related support of an IT service with the involvement of the contractor as an external service partner. This also includes requirements arising from data protection and information security, such as a data protection-friendly and secure configuration of IT services ("Privacy by Default" and "Security by Default"). In this context, the Contractor involved in "Managed Services" acts fully independently and can move and communicate freely between the internal administrative areas and other external managed service partners in compliance with data protection regulations. With the involvement of an internal service manager, the staff employed by the client has administrative, organisational and decision-making authority, but only carries out administrative activities to a limited extent.

The Contractor shall operate the services for which he is responsible entirely himself, shall employ only qualified personnel and, if necessary, maintain direct contact with the departments involved in the respective service system operation (e.g. for the operation of the M365 tenant and, for example, the network infrastructure).

The systems for which they are responsible must be operated in such a way that failures are proactively avoided or reduced to a minimum by appropriate measures. This applies in particular to effects or functional restrictions that are recognizable to the user end user in the context of maintenance processes or troubleshooting. If these are recognizable in advance, the planned procedure must be communicated and coordinated with those responsible.

The Contractor shall perform all activities necessary for the operation and troubleshooting of the M365 Services and shall carry them out independently and completely as far as possible. He has to assume responsibility within the framework of defined roles for the functionality of the M365 services for the scope of services defined in this service description. When providing services, the Contractor shall apply the established current state of the art as well as the applicable quality standards, working methods and the specifications of the Client. The pure handling and maintenance of the company's services is the basis for the joint further development of the services and the implementation of new technologies and solutions. For this reason, a partnership is necessary in which the partners regularly exchange information about possible potentials for increasing efficiency through technological development.

Further details on the tendered services can be found in the tender documents (in particular the terms of reference (Part B.)).

The clients are the public state broadcasters united in the Association of Public Broadcasters of the Federal Republic of Germany (ARD), the Second German Television (ZDF) and Deutschlandradio (DR), represented by the management of the contribution service of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio (hereinafter referred to as "Beitragsservice" or "AG").

The subject of the services advertised by the contribution service is the award of the operation of the M365 platform as managed services with a fixed term of 2 years from 01.08.2023 as well as two extension options on the same terms by 12 months each.

In order to maintain a powerful and modern IT landscape, the client is looking for a competent and experienced "Managed Services" service provider (hereinafter referred to as "AN") for the M365 environment. Although the sovereignty over the IT systems remains with the client, there is an expectation of the contractor to provide the commissioned service processes with the highest level of expertise, personal responsibility as well as proactive and solution-oriented action and thus to reliably support the client.

The term "managed services" refers to the client as the holistic technical and content-related support of an IT service with the involvement of the contractor as an external service partner. This also includes requirements arising from data protection and information security, such as a data protection-friendly and secure configuration of IT services ("Privacy by Default" and "Security by Default"). In this context, the Contractor involved in "Managed Services" acts fully independently and can move and communicate freely between the internal administrative areas and other external managed service partners in compliance with data protection regulations. With the involvement of an internal service manager, the staff employed by the client has administrative, organisational and decision-making authority, but only carries out administrative activities to a limited extent.

The Contractor shall operate the services for which he is responsible entirely himself, shall employ only qualified personnel and, if necessary, maintain direct contact with the departments involved in the respective service system operation (e.g. for the operation of the M365 tenant and, for example, the network infrastructure).

The systems for which they are responsible must be operated in such a way that failures are proactively avoided or reduced to a minimum by appropriate measures. This applies in particular to effects or functional restrictions that are recognizable to the user end user in the context of maintenance processes or troubleshooting. If these are recognizable in advance, the planned procedure must be communicated and coordinated with those responsible.

The Contractor shall perform all activities necessary for the operation and troubleshooting of the M365 Services and shall carry them out independently and completely as far as possible. He has to assume responsibility within the framework of defined roles for the functionality of the M365 services for the scope of services defined in this service description. When providing services, the Contractor shall apply the established current state of the art as well as the applicable quality standards, working methods and the specifications of the Client. The pure handling and maintenance of the company's services is the basis for the joint further development of the services and the implementation of new technologies and solutions. For this reason, a partnership is necessary in which the partners regularly exchange information about possible potentials for increasing efficiency through technological development.

Further details on the tendered services can be found in the tender documents (in particular the terms of reference (Part B.)).