SCHEDULE 1 SPECIFICATION SCHEDULE

Project_ 6533 DOE, DRD and DARD Off Site Storage

Introduction

1.The Department of Environment (DOE), Department for Regional Development (DRD) and Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), hereinafter referred to as the Client, has a requirement to store A4 & Foolscap size files, paper records, lever arch files and document boxes, amps and drawings in a safe and secure, off-site store for the Department and its Agencies.

2.A list of the main delivery addresses for all participating bodies will be provided on the award of the contract by the business areas requiring the service (Annex B).

It is envisaged that the contract will commence on 2 July 2012. The contract will be for a period of 4 years with two further options to extend for 4 years each.

Details of the current records in storage for each of the participating bodies are attached at Annex A.

3.In promoting confidence the Client recognises the information it gathers, processes and retains is as a business asset and, as such, its confidentiality, integrity and availability are of paramount importance. For this reason, the storage of its records and information, whether on or off site, should adhere to the highest standards.

Contract Set-up/Implementation

4.The Contractor must nominate an account manager who will be regarded as ‘Key Personnel’ under the Conditions of Contract. Details of the account manager must be provided in the Tender response.

5.Contractor staff engaged in this contract must have baseline security clearance. The Contractor shall provide the Client with a Schedule, listing those Contractor staff who has access to the Clients’ files. The list should be in alphabetical order, to include all names, dates of birth and expiry date of security clearances, of all persons servicing this contract.

6.The account manager shall be responsible for overseeing the contract set-up including ensuring all staff working on the contract have the necessary security clearance in place.

7.The account manager will also be responsible for ensuring the set up of the individual accounts for each separate participating business area and ensuring that the invoicing arrangements are agreed.

8.Some of the Clients who are party to this contract currently have separate arrangements in place for off-site storage. Files covered under existing contractual arrangements will transfer on expiry of these contracts.

Information regarding existing contracts within DOE is not held in a uniform format. As of 10 April 2011 DOE stored 6467 boxes with an off-site storage provider. In addition there were also approximately 151,000 files stored in Rathgael Store which in August 2011 on the closure of the store was transferred to an off-site storage contract. Upon award of contract DOE will have files to transfer into storage.

The current contract for DARD and DRD will expire on 4 January 2013.

In the event of a change in Contractor, the account manager must ensure the smooth transition of records from the existing service provider on the termination of those contracts. The transfer of any records must be in a timely manner and by no means prohibitive.

9.In the event of a hand over of files, the Contractor shall provide an electronic record index based upon information supplied by the outgoing service provider and the Client to ensure effective accountability of records. The record Index shall be maintained throughout the period of contract. It shall be updated within one working day of any changes to the records lodged with the Contractor. The record index or database should ideally be directly accessible by the Client. A copy of the master index is to be made available to the Client as required.

Service Delivery

10.The Contractor shall provide a secure file storage and retrieval service to the Client. Where possible standard industry sizes have been used, however some slight variations in sizes are accepted. The dimensions are indicative only and where they do not match your exact box sizes, Tenderers must indicate in your responses the nearest available sizes to those detailed.

11.The service provision must include:

  • Provision of a suitable store
  • Provision of a safe and secure holding area.
  • Provision of suitable shelving
  • Provision of suitable caged and/or vaulted area(s) where requested.
  • Provision of a safe and secure are to site AO Size Vertical plan cabinets.
  • Provision of suitable barcode labels.
  • Provision of suitable cardboard boxes.
  • Provision of a file management system.
  • Provision of staff and vehicles for delivery of files to and from the Client’s offices.
  • Provision of a suitable invoice system.
  • A suitable system (e.g. internet-based) to permit a range of authorised staff to access both their records database and place retrieval, collection and supply orders remotely form any of their business locations.
  • Access to Records: Access shall be available to those persons authorised by the Client or other authorised body in respect of their own records when there is a need to retrieve or deposit record or for any other official purposes.
  • The Receipt/Delivery of Records to Office Service must include Tracking activities: bar coding: add/track and catalogue system so that records (boxed or individual) can be tracked throughout process to/from secure storage facility.
  • Provision or access to a safe & secure scanning facility.
  • Facility to file, by indexed barcode, a single A4/Foolscap document file up to 25mm thickness
  • Facility to file, by indexed barcode, a single A4/Foolscap document file up to 50mm thickness
  • Facility to file, by indexed barcode, a single A4/Foolscap document file or box up to 100mm thickness
  • Facility to file, by indexed barcode, a single lidded cardboard A4/Foolscap document at 330mm thickness
  • Facility to store AO size Vertical plan cabinets each containing up to 300 titled drawings (1030mm wide x 435mm deep x 1415mm high).
  • The option to purchase Standard Size cardboard boxes in quantities of 10’s, 100’s & 1000’s.
  • To have a Standard 2 day Delivery and Collection file retrieval service in place**(see notes)
  • To have an Urgent 2-hour Delivery Service in place ***(see notes)
  • To have guaranteed 24 hour / 365 day access to all or any file box or drawing (i.e out of hours delivery
  • To have a scanning facility ****(see notes)

Notes

** Standard 2 day Delivery and Collection timing schedule: The following examples relate to two full working days for a standard week but excludes statutory and bank holidays.

Monday request by 15.00 hrs – Wednesday delivery /collection by 15.00 hrs

Tuesday request by 15.00 hrs – Thursday delivery/collection by 15.00 hrs

Wednesday request by 15.00 hrs – Friday delivery/collection by 15.00 hrs

Thursday request by 15.00 hrs – Monday delivery/collection by 15.00 hrs

Friday request by 15.00 hrs – Tuesday delivery/collection by 15.00 hrs

*** Urgent 2-hour Delivery Service Monday to Friday This is an occasional service requirement and limits the response time to 2.00hrs or less from receipt of the request to the retrieving and delivery of the file or box.

**** A facility is required to allow for scanning and conversion of all standard sizes of paper record to be reproduced in an electronic format.

12.The Contractor shall provide that files are stored in a secure area with restricted electronic entry. To permit access to the Client as and when required, the storage must be located within Northern Ireland and meet all relevant environmental controls.

13.The restricted area will be required to hold Client records in secure conditions that meet the environmental condition requirements of BS 1153:1992 standards or equivalent. Whilst the size of documents may vary, the majority of the records will be housed in industry standard size boxes as detailed above.

14.The Contractor must maintain and safeguard the Client’s property to current European Standards, such as ISO 27001/2 -Information Security Management, ISO 9001:2008 -Quality Accreditation or their equivalent.

15.The Contractor shall develop and agree a business continuity plan with each Client. In the event of any incident the Contractor shall contact the Client and instigate the agreed plan. A copy of the proposed Plan should be returned with this tender and, if successful in the tender, details agreed with client at the earliest opportunity.

16.The standard service for delivery of files is within 2 working days. However, retrieval services may vary and it is essential that files can be retrieved at short notice, including out of hours, evenings and weekends, although it is accepted that the requirement for this will be infrequent.

17.An indication of likely retrieval service usage is provided with the volumes, however this is for indicative purposes only and cannot be relied on as an indication of future use.

18.The full list of costed services is detailed in the Pricing Schedule. There must be no direct cost for initial set up to the Client. Any costs must be absorbed within the operational costs (i.e. general storage and retrieval costs). No charges shall also be made for the end of contract procedures including retrieval of all files/boxes, palletising and shrink wrapping and transfer of relevant data. Five days notice will be given before the collection date of all files.

19.The Contractor must have established processes and procedures in place for handling the Client’s records. These must be detailed in the tender response and shall include all processes from collection of files from Clients premises to secure storage and retrieval processes.

20.It is important to highlight the following in relation to action required whilst handling the assets.

  • Files and data must not be allowed to sit in direct sunlight.
  • Food and drink must not be consumed in an area where the documents / files / drawings are being handled, scanned or stored.
  • Smoking must not be permitted near the Department’s property at any time.Staff handling Information must have clean hands when working with the documents.
  • The off-site storage premises and transport vehicles are made available for inspection for random inspections by the nominated Client Representatives during the Contract period as part of the on-going quality assurance procedures.
  • Any damage must be reported to the Departmental Representative immediately for conservation assessment. The Contractor must not attempt to repair any damaged documents / files or drawings.
  • When documents are required to be stored in electronic format, the Contractor shall be responsible for the preparation of documents/files and drawings by removal of all paperclips, staples or treasury tags. All documents/files and drawings which are secured with paperclips, staples or treasury tags should be rebound after processing has taken place ensuring the original file order of all the documents is retained.
  • Vehicles must be fitted with tracking systems whilst files are in transit.
  • Staff must be fully trained in manual handling.
  • Procedures must be in place for dealing with spillages or damages.
  • A policy must be in place to ensure the security and timely delivery of documents for vehicles involved in accidents, breakdown or diversions.
  • Any boxes damaged in transit or worn out through multiple retrievals shall be replaced, re-boxed and re-labelled without charge to the Client.

21.The contractor shall provide a facility for Clients authorised staff to view stored documents on site, which must include access to copying/scanning facilities. Staff will comply with local security procedures and the Client will provide advance notification to the Contractor prior to the visit.

22.The majority of records stored under the Contract will be at or below the protective marking of ‘restricted’.

23.However, there may be a rare occasion where some Clients would be archiving ‘Confidential’ information and would require protectively marked files to be segregated and held together in a secure caged area where access is restricted.

24.Individual files can vary from 25mm to approx 330mm in thickness. Some records may also consist of a number of files or other documents and the container/box holding them will be registered as the file, however, it is important to note that a record must be kept of the number of boxes or files associated with each unique file number.

25.The Contractor shall be required to manage the individual accounts for each Client.

26.The Contractor shall have a complaints procedure in place to effectively manage issues on a day-to-day basis and escalate where these cannot be resolved. Details of the complaints procedure must be included in your tender response.

27.The Contractor shall have in place an effective performance management process, documenting the agreed service levels and reporting on these on a monthly basis. This performance management plan must detail the Contractor responsibilities to ensure that performance standards are maintained throughout the life of the contract. The Contractor shall develop and issue a draft plan to each Client within 30 days of contract award. The Client will agree a final plan which shall form the basis of performance measurement. This may be reviewed on an annual basis.

28.The Contractor shall attend, at least annually, meetings with the Client’s nominated representative and Central Procurement Directorate Contract Manager to discuss, monitor and review the contract.

29.The Contractor shall detail the end of contract procedures in the event of early termination of contract or contract expiry. These end of contract procedures must be detailed within the tender response and must include all reasonable requirements for the smooth and co-ordinated transfer and migration of all property being stored and managed under this contract. This must include the processes for retrieval, palletising and shrink wrapping and data transfer. There shall be no cost to the Client in these end of contract procedures.

30.The Contractor shall provide the Client and replacement Contractor with up-to-date copies of the database records relating to all property currently stored and managed for the Client. If this information is provided in hardcopy format, it must be in a bound printout or alternatively if the information is to be communicated electronically by CD-Rom or DVD it should include a software reading programme. The Contractor must also exchange/export the database electronically to the Client directly and within 4 weeks of the contract end. This must be updated on a daily basis thereafter reflecting the removal schedule until completion. This shall ensure accurate cross checking of records for removed property against received property on a daily basis enabling early identification / correction of anomalies. Electronic export or hardcopy of the database must be in a common exchange format. All hard or electronic transfer of data must comply with relevant information security and handling procedures.

31.At the end of contract and after all data has been migrated to the new Contractor, any remaining data must be erased from the outgoing Contractor’s database according to the national standard.

32.It is central to the delivery of Services that the Client’s sustainability objectives and targets are met. For further details please visit the following sites.

full_guidance.pdf

33.Contractors are required to provide evidence of their commitment to sustainability in the delivery of storage services. This should include details of environmental statements in relation to the delivery of storage services or policies and also any ‘green’ aspects of the approach to reducing carbon emissions, eliminating hazardous materials, reusing/recycling and the disposal of waste material.

Management Information and Reporting Requirements

34.The Contractor shall provide accurate management information on an ad-hoc basis and must respond within 5 working days of a request. Standard management information must be provided with invoices to allow for reconciliation and must detail the services provided during the previous month and the number of boxes currently in storage as a minimum. Progress reports shall be provided to each Client by the Contractor on a quarterly basis starting 3 months from the date of contract award. Reports shall include details of the quantity of currently held records, transactions to date for previous months, receipts of new records and disposals to date and details of complaints and the outcome/status of the complaint. There shall not be any charge for Progress Reports, which should be transmitted by email to the nominated representatives.

35.Details of the software currently used must be provided within the Tender. Details should also be provided of any self-service systems which would allow access to the Client to view their inventory at any time.

Physical Security of Files

36.Security requirements: The contractor shall hold all information records in such a way as to preclude theft, unauthorised access, copying, alteration, substitution or disclosure and comply with relevant information security handling procedures and standards.

37.The facility used to store the information records shall be of a solid construction to which only controlled access is possible. This will be achieved through the use of secure perimeter fencing or by the secure nature of the facility itself. It is also a requirement that this will be supplemented by CCTV or intruder detection systems.

38.The Contractor shall ensure that the records are protected from damage by fire through:

  • A design and structure that limits fire to its source in each separate area of storage
  • The vault should be separated by fire walls giving protection for a minimum of 4 hours
  • Adequate detection, alarm and extinguishing systems appropriate to archival documents.

39.The Clients will require to see, on request, daily evidence over a 3 month period, that the storage facility proposed meets the temperature and RH standards.

40.The Environmental Conditions for Microcilm Storage are as follows;

The Contractor shall provide storage facilities within the BS 1153:1992 standard Specific Environmental requirements namely:

  • that air shall be filtered to remove dust and noxious gases and shall be circulated by forced draught
  • that temperature shall be maintained between 15°C and 25°C and preferably below 20°C
  • that RH shall be maintained consistently within the range of 20% to 40%.
  1. The Contractor shall take every precaution to reduce all risks to the information in handling, transport and electronic conversion which extends to the integrity of electronic data held including its on-line accessibility/storage. Any internet Browser interface shall be suitably protected with an approved security password structure, ensuring no outside access to this information.
  2. Tenderers are required to detail the security measures in place for the transportation and storage of files. This must include procedures for accompanying files, access to files, physical storage facilities. A site visit will be carried out with the highest scoring tender to verify the accuracy of information provided in the written tender submission. In the event that any part of the security assessment is unsatisfactory to the extent that the Client considers its information and property would be at risk, then the Client will deem this tender unsuitable and move on to the next highest scoring tender. If necessary, this process will continue until a suitable tenderer is identified and the contract awarded.

Annex A