Procurement
When procuring IT services you should:
- Require suppliers to state whether they meet relevant standards or not as part of the tendering process.
- Require that they implement changes to these standards throughout the lifetime of the contract. The decision on whether to include funding for standards in the up-front contract or to treat each one as a structured change is a local one. In either case the procuring authority must make provision in its budgets for funding standards. They are not normally funded by the centre.
An example contract requirement is given below:
"The Contractor shall ensure that the Service (including those Service elements provided by its subcontractors) complies, and shall continue to comply throughout the Term, with the approved Information Standards as at the date of contract award. The implementation of new and updated Standards shall be agreed by the parties in accordance with the Change Control Process."
We have also created an example contract schedule where more detail is required.
If an information standard does not seem right for your organisation then please notify either ourselves or the named contact for the standard. We conduct regular reviews of standards to see if they remain fit for purpose. If they are not then the standard is changed.
Related content
You can find guidance and sample questions at Standards Enforcement in Procurement (STEP).
