MITA’s Dynamic Purchasing Systems: New Year, New Opportunities

What is a DPS?

A DPS is aimed at the procurement of commonly and repeatedly-used purchases or services. It resembles a framework agreement, with the difference that new Economic Operators can be admitted to the DPS at any time during its establishment period.

The DPS follows two stages:

1. the establishment stage where the broad requirements and eligibility and selection criteria (including evidence of past experience related to the goods or services being sought) for admittance to the DPS are assessed. This assessment is done within 10 days from each individual submission of application.
2. the specific contracts stage where all those economic operators who satisfied the DPS administrative requirement and thus were successfully admitted to the DPS are invited to submit a bid for specific goods or services. For every Specific Contract, only technical and financial information will be requested and evaluated.

To date, MITA has established five dynamic purchasing systems, the latest two of which have just been launched in the past few weeks.  Further details on each DPS are available at https://procurement.mita.gov.mt/resources/dps/

Temporary IT Resources (DPS059/18)

The first DPS established in Malta by MITA has been up and running since 2018 and relates to the provision of temporary IT resources to support current ICT application handled by the Agency, Resources may be engaged for short periods of time, typically of not more than three years.

Printers and Scanners (DPS020/20)

This DPS has been established to cater for the procurement of printers, scanners and related supplies/services by all Government Contracting Authorities. Specific Contracts issued through this DPS relate to a variety of equipment including the leasing and outright purchase of printers, scanners, and their related consumables.

Software Development Services (DPS060/20)

Another DPS established for consumption by Government Contracting Authorities, this DPS aims to facilitate the procurement of a number of services related to the typical software development lifecycle, including requirements analysis, planning and design, software development, and software maintenance and support.

Workstations (DPS071/21)

MITA has moved to simplify the process adopted in respect of the purchase of workstations (laptops and computers) for the Government of Malta through this DPS, which enables MITA to purchase a variety of laptops, desktop computers and workstation monitors for use by Government Contracting Authorities whilst still trying to maximise economies of scale.

Modernisation Software Development Services (DPS069/21)

This DPS is aimed towards the procurement of software development services contributing towards the modernisation of some of the Government’s core legacy IT solutions that support most compliance processes for citizens and businesses, and which shall be modernised to cloud-native systems.

MITA, as well as a considerable number of Contracting Authorities have made use of these DPSs, demonstrating the success of this procurement procedure on a wider scale, as exemplified by the following figures.

As the table shows, each DPS has a considerable budget for the various Specific Contracts that may be issued, representing a very attractive tendering opportunity for economic operators. The latter are reminded that MITA regularly organises and convenes information sessions outlining the way a DPS operates and publishes periodic outlook notices on the tenders and Specific Contracts that are being planned to be issued. More information, including on how to register for free email alerts, is available from the URL https://procurement.mita.gov.mt/.  

The next few weeks will see various procurement opportunities for interested economic operators, particularly with regards to procurement related to workstations and modernisation software development services. Interested Economic Operators are encouraged to conclude the application process for those DPS of interest, since invitations to tender for Specific Contracts can only be sent to those participants who are admitted at the time of dispatch of the invitation. Visit MITA’ procurement website or scan the QR Code from your smart device and stay tuned for upcoming opportunities!