On Monday 27 January 2025 (11:00-12:30 GMT) techUK is delighted to be hosting the Government Property Agency (GPA) for an online supplier engagement session which will inform suppliers of the GPA’s upcoming procurements for an Access Control System Installation Partner and for an Access Control Systems (Encryption/Cloud) Technical Services Partner.
About the requirements:
The GPA, in collaboration with the Government Security Group (GSG), are establishing consistent security standards for access control systems and improving security policies and processes to ensure only authorised colleagues can gain access to government buildings.
To achieve this the GovPass system was developed, which is the name given to the existing UK government standard for card encryption on a physical access control card.
GovPass forms part of the GPA’s OneEstates programme of work, which comprises a number of technologies and capabilities that make working in His Majesty's Government (HMG) buildings easier. One of these is the GovPass Programme. The GovPass Programme is a key enabler of interoperability across the HMG estate, supporting the efficient utilisation of buildings and ways of working through a single building pass that Civil Servants can enrol at multiple sites. It provides secure and efficient access to buildings in a frictionless manner whilst providing a vendor agnostic technical standard for the UK Government.
To date the GovPass programme has deployed to 56 buildings and has c.116,000 civil servants utilising this capability. GovPass is a highly secure encryption layer that resides on an Access Control System, supported by and integrated with a Cloud architecture, residing on AWS, to ensure the Authentication and Validation of a building pass and enabling highly secure building and site access.
GovPass currently utilises the ID-Ware Online Card Management System for the creation and encoding of cards.
Aligned to the GPAs strategic intent, GovPass aims to be deployed into all Government shared office buildings and campuses including London, Manchester and Birmingham, with deployment accelerating through the SR period to 2030 and beyond.
To achieve the deployment of GovPass across the HMG estate, GPA will be holding two procurements in 2025:
- An Access Control System Installation Partner - To install GovPass Compatible systems and upgrade systems on the estate to GovPass compatibility.
- An Access Control Systems (Encryption/Cloud) Technical Services Partner - To deliver, manage and run the GovPass service, and enable the continuance of further development and site deployments of the GovPass service.
The contracts will be for up to five years and combined will have a contract total of up to £40m (ex-VAT).
About the webinar:
GPA are seeking to engage with potential suppliers to share GPA’s strategy for these two procurements, and we are keen to engage with Access Control System (ACS) vendors, Encryption/Cloud Architect Vendors, and Security and Systems Integrators specialising in the install and maintenance of Access Control Systems. In the webinar GPA will provide an overview of the strategic direction for GovPass, potential delivery models, and the high-level requirements for the service. GPA will also collect questions during and after the webinar, and answer where possible during the session.
Further information:
Following the webinar GPA will share the presentation. Additionally, a survey is available below which the GPA would like interested suppliers to respond to, which will aid the GPA to understand which suppliers would be interested in further engagements and possibly bidding for these requirements.
The outcome of this engagement will be used to shape GPA’s procurement approach for the upcoming competition.
A link to the survey is available here: https://forms.gle/KfwgsxsszMB5uqX19. Please respond to the survey by 9am GMT on Monday 3 February 2025.
