Tender opportunities through MITA’s Dynamic Purchasing Systems
Over the past years, the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) has established numerous Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPSs), for use by the Agency and in some particular cases, for use by other Contracting Authorities across Government. Currently, MITA manages a total of five DPSs:
- two DPSs issued by MITA by virtue of its role as Central Purchasing Body, for utilisation by other public Contracting Authorities, and
- three DPSs for MITA’s sole use.
After a few years of experience with DPSs, it’s time to look back on the variety of DPSs established by MITA.
Let’s start by refreshing our memories: what is a Dynamic Purchasing System?
A DPS is aimed at the procurement of commonly used and repeated purchases or services. It resembles a framework agreement, with the difference that new Economic Operators can be join to the DPS at any time during its establishment period.
The DPS procedure is similar as when submitting a tender response with the main difference being that the tender procedure is carried out in two stages.
- In the first stage, interested economic operators may seek admittance to the DPS by submitting their bid that relates to administrative exclusion, eligibility and selection criteria evaluation (including evidence of past experience related to the goods or services being sought). Every bid will be assessed within 10 days from each individual submission of application.
- At the second stage, all admitted participants (who satisfied the DPS administrative requirement) are invited to tender for specific contracts, where their bids will be assessed only on technical and financial merits.
A DPS procedure brings numerous benefits for Economic Operators, particularly with regards to the notion that their eligibility/selection credentials will be assessed only once without the need to re-evaluate these requirements for each specific procurement made under the DPS. Economic Operators are also less likely to miss out on procurement opportunities because they will be actually invited to tender for all the issued, rather than having to actively look for tender opportunities themselves.
Let’s have a closer look at MITA’s Dynamic Purchasing Systems. To date, MITA has established the following DPSs for the following services and supplies:
- Printers and Scanners (DPS020/20), and related supplies/ services for all Government Contracting Authorities. Specific Contracts issued through this DPS relate to a variety of equipment and cover both the leasing and outright purchase of such equipment. The equipment includes:
- Stand-alone printers (monochrome/colour),
- Multifunction printers,
- Network multifunction printers,
- Large-format printers,
- 3D printers,
- Stand-alone scanners (flatbed, sheetfed, book scanners,
- and other related Consumables such as toners, cartridges, and 3D printing material but excluding printing paper.
- Software Development Services (DPS060/20), also for consumption by Government Contracting Authorities. This DPS aims to facilitate the procurement of several services related to the typical software development lifecycle, including:
- requirements analysis,
- planning and design,
- software development, and
- software maintenance and support.
- Procurement of Workstations (DPS071/21), to simplify the process adopted in respect of the purchase of workstations (laptops and computers) for the Government of Malta. This 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), to contribute towards the modernisation of some of the Government’s core legacy IT solutions supporting most compliance processes for citizens and businesses, and which shall be modernised to cloud-native systems. DPS069/21 is for use only by MITA.
- Provision of Technical Consultancy Services (DPS 079/22), a more recent DPS for use only by MITA and covering consultancy on specific technologies, services platforms and possible assistance in their implementation projects.
MITA’s experience of DPSs does not end there, as we delve into the take-up of Current DPSs. Both MITA and a considerable number of Contracting Authorities have made increasing use of these DPSs. This demonstrates 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.
For those interested in such opportunities, Economic Operators need to register with the electronic Public Procurement System (ePPS) at https://www.etenders.gov.mt/ in order to participate to these DPS. The ePPS hosts a workspace for each DPS which contains all related instructions and documents.
Economic Operators are also encouraged to peruse MITA’s website (https://procurement.mita.gov.mt ) for additional information on the Agency’s DPS as well other procurement-related opportunities, information, resources, and events including information sessions that provide more information on how a DPS operates. Users can also sign up for email alerts on tender outlook notices, new tender publications, and new events.
Get in touch with us on [email protected] in case of difficulty or further clarification.