Provision of Data Centre Colocation Space Services

The current service is operationally and technically dependent on the existing datacentre environment, including established rack space, power configuration, and cross-connect/network circuits. These are tightly integrated into the Trust’s wider infrastructure.

A move to an alternative provider would therefore not be a simple contract change, but a full infrastructure migration, requiring, physical relocation of live production hardware, reconfiguration of network connectivity, routing, and security and coordination with multiple third parties. This would create significant technical complexity, resource demand, and delivery risk, including potential service disruption during migration and impact to business-critical systems.

Given these dependencies, changing supplier would result in incompatibility with the existing environment and disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance, alongside additional cost and risk. On this basis, continuing with the incumbent provider is considered the most appropriate approach to ensure service continuity, stability, and risk mitigation.

South London and Maudsley NHS Trust is relying on Section 41 and paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 to justify the use of direct award in special cases.