Intention notice for operation and maintenance of high performance computer infrastructure

This notice concerns the award of a renewed contract for the operation and maintenance of the InSAR solution. The Norwegian Geological Survey (NGU) intends to enter into a contract with the current supplier of the solution, Alpha System AS. As of 1 January 2027, responsibility for the solution will be transferred from NGU to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE). Consequently, the relevant contract period for NGU extends only until 31 December 2026. Given the limited remaining contract period, NGU considers it neither practical nor proportionate to conduct a competitive procurement procedure. The duration of the contract is too short to justify the significant investments and implementation efforts that would be required from alternative suppliers. The system covered by the contract is business-critical, and continuity of operations is essential. Should the contract be awarded to a new supplier, the supplier would be required to undertake an extensive establishment and implementation phase, including, among other things, relocating the system to a new data centre. This process would be time-consuming, creating a significant risk that the solution would not be fully operational by the time responsibility for the contract is transferred to the new contracting authority. Relocating the system would also entail substantial costs. As downtime cannot be accepted for certain parts of the system, any relocation would require duplicate instances of key components to be established in parallel in order to ensure uninterrupted operations throughout the transition. Conducting a competitive procurement procedure in these circumstances would therefore not result in genuine competition for the contract, as the remaining contract term is too short to justify the investments that would be required from alternative suppliers. The contracting authority therefore considers that competition is absent due to technical reasons. Based on this, NGU deems the terms in regulation 12 August 2016 no. 974 on public procurements (the procurement regulation/FOA) § 13-4 letter b, number 2 stating that competition is impossible for technical reasons, to be fulfilled.