The Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has commenced an £18m IT refresh.

The contract covers a managed IT service, as well as organisation-wide upgrades to the trusts’ fleet of end-user devices. 

The deal – which runs for five years from 7 October – has been awarded to Essex-based Bates IT Ltd, a division of conglomerate Bates Group, which also has units dedicated to communications, medical technology, and facilities management and construction. 

The company will be expected to deliver “a fully managed service [and] a full device refresh of desktop and laptop devices and upgrade to Windows 10 and Office 2019”. 

“Implementation services including but not limited to: set-up, training, data migration, testing, go-live and post go-live support”, also form part of the trusts’ requirement. 

The managed service, meanwhile, will include a service desk on site to provide support during core hours, as well as a “fully-featured ITSM tool and portal for end users, a full call-handling system, and alternative contact methods”. 

The supplier will also need to offer a repairs, maintenance and incident management services, as well as all necessary service-level agreements. 

The trust will also require configuration services, asset-management and tracking for devices, management of WiFi, and a system for adding and removing users, or changing their credentials. 

Throughout the engagement, the trusts will need “change management”, “knowledge management” and “ongoing professional services and support”. 

The contract notice inviting bids was originally published in mid-March, before being delayed for several months in light of the coronavirus crisis.