Freedom of Information Request - Data Centre
Date: 04 December 2024
Our ref: SIR177904/A4851285
Information Request – Data Centre
Your Request
This is a request for information that relates to the organisation’s contracts around ICT contract(s) for Server Hardware Maintenance, Server Virtualisation Licenses and Maintenance and Storage Area Network (SAN) Maintenance/Support, which may include:
• Server Hardware Maintenance- contracts relating to the support and maintenance of the organisation’s physical servers.
• Virtualisation Maintenance/Support/ Licensing (VMware, Solaris, Unix, Linux, Windows Server)
• Storage Area Network Maintenance/Support (EMC, NetApp etc)
For each of the types of contract described above, please can you provide me with the following data. If there is more than one contract please split the information for each separate supplier this includes annual spend
1. Contract Title: Please provide me with the contract title.
2. Type of Contracts (ABOVE): Please can you provide me with one or more contract types the contract relates to: Server Hardware, Virtualisation, SAN (Storage Area Network)
3. Existing/Current Supplier: Please provide me with the supplier name for each contract.
4. Brand: Please state the brand of hardware or software
5. Operating System / Software (Platform): (Windows, Linux, Unix, Vsphere, AIX, Solaris etc.) Please state the operating system used by the organisation.
6. Annual Average Spend: Please provide me with the most recent annual spend for this contract?
7. Contract Duration: (Please can you also include notes if the contract includes any contract Extension periods.)
8. Contract Expiry Date: Please can you provide me with the date of when the contract expires.
9. Contract Review Date: (An approximate date of when the organisation is planning to review this particular contract.)
10. Purchase of Servers: Could you please provide me with the month and year in which most/bulk of servers were purchased.
11. Number of Physical Server: Please can you provide me with the number of physical servers.
12. Number of Virtual Servers: Please can you provide me with the number of Virtual servers
13. Brief Contract Description: I require a brief description of the service provided under this contract. Please do not just put maintenance. I need at least a sentence.
14.Contract Owner: (The person from within the organisation that is responsible for reviewing and renewing this particular contract. Please include their full name, job title, direct contact number and direct email address.)’
Our Response
We have undertaken a detailed search of the information that we hold and the information that we can release to you is provided in the Table below:
Table 1 - ICT contract details
- | Contract Title - Server Hardware Maintenance | Contract Title - VMWare Software Licensing and Support | Contract Title - Primary SAN Maintenance / Support | Contract Title - Secondary SAN Maintenance / Support | Contract Title - SuSE Linux Enterprise Server |
2. Contract Type | Hardware maintenance | Software licensing | Hardware maintenance Software licensing and support | Hardware maintenance Software licensing and support | Licence and support |
3. Existing/Current Supplier | One Source IT Limited | Insight Direct (UK) Limited | Insight Direct (UK) Limited | Insight Direct (UK) Limited | Computace nter UK Limited |
4. Hardware Brand | HP, Sun and Lenovo | VMWare | Lenovo DE4000H | Lenovo DE4000H | n/a |
5. Operating System / Software (Platform): (Windows, Linux, Unix, VMWare etc.) | Information withheld | Information withheld | Information withheld | Information withheld | Information withheld |
6. Annual Average Spend (ex VAT) | 1180.00 | 5296.00 | 7167.00 | 7389.00 | 5649.00 |
7. Contract Duration | 12 months | 3 Years | 5 years | 5 years | 12 months |
8. Contract Expiry Date | 30/09/2025 | 20/09/2027 | 01/06/2029 | 01/01/2029 | 31/12/2024 |
9. Contract Review Date | 01/08/2025 | 20/09/2026 | 01/06/2028 | 01/06/2028 | 01/12/2024 |
10. Purchase of Servers | No servers purchased in FY 2023/24. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
11. Number of Physical Servers | 10 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
12. Number of Virtual Servers | 45 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
13. Brief Contract Description | On-call remedial service, repairs and replacement of unserviceable parts. | Software licensing and support. | Hardware purchase, licence, warranty and 24/7 support for 5 years | Hardware purchase, licence, warranty and 24/7 support for 5 years | Licence and support |
14. Contract Owner | no single point of contact | no single point of contact | no single point of contact | no single point of contact | no single point of contact |
We have responded to part of your request as ‘Information withheld’. This is because we hold some information that we are unable to release; specifically, we will not release information that could expose the specific products and/or the versions in use, the hardware and software details, and supplier name(s) and where this would therefore directly identify the solution in place.
Release of this withheld information into the public domain, in response to a Freedom of Information request, would substantially increase the risk of a "targeted cyber-attack" against NatureScot. Any such cyber-attack would be highly damaging to NatureScot, and seriously affect our ability to deliver public services and keep our information secure. It is not in the public interest to expose NatureScots information systems to such a serious threat and risk. We are therefore withholding the information under FOISA Section 30(c) (Prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) and maintain that, in this case, it is in the public interest to do so.
There is no single point of contact for each contract. For further information please contact our Procurement team at 01463 725000; [email protected].
How We Handled Your Request
We believe you have asked for environmental information as defined in the Environmental Information (Scotland Regulations 2004 (‘the EIRs’), so we are dealing with your request under those regulations. To be able to use the EIRs, we must apply an exemption under section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (‘FOISA’). The Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance recommends that public authorities apply this exemption to environmental information and handle request under the EIRs.
If you would like to find out more about the access to information legislation, there is a guidance booklet available on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website.
Review and Appeal
I hope this information meets your requirements, but if you are dissatisfied with how we have responded to your information request, please write to us within 40 working days explaining your concerns. You can contact us at Battleby, Redgorton, Perth, PH1 3EW or email us at [email protected]. We will carry out a review of our response and contact you with our findings within 20 working days.
If you are not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within 6 months. The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Yours sincerely
FOI Officer,
NatureScot