ECMWF

About ECMWF.

ECMWF is both a research institute and a 24/7 operational service, producing global numerical weather predictions and other data for their Members and Co-operating States and the broader community. The Centre has one of the largest supercomputer facilities and meteorological data archives in the world.

Overview.

After winning a competitive tender process, we were jointly awarded the contract to migrate ECWMF’s datacentre from the UK to Italy.

eXceeding’s role was to define the procurement strategy and the process, whilst working with their IT and procurement teams to support their inhouse workstreams. We defined specifications, which adhered to internal governance and were OJEU aligned, before developing the procurement strategy and tender packs.

We managed the entire process including assessing supplier risk, overseeing the shortlisting and selection process, to the point of signing contracts and handing over to the allocated transition and implementation team.

Due to the business-critical nature of their IT systems and datacentre build, it was essential that we selected the right calibre of supplier and understood the complex nature of the tech, all within the confines of being OJEU aligned.

The solution.

After winning a competitive tender process, eXceeding was jointly awarded the contract to migrate ECWMF’s datacentre to Italy. Our primary responsibility was to create a procurement strategy and manage the process to the point of signing contracts with the chosen supplier.

1. eXceeding worked with ECWMF’s IT, FM and procurement teams to define the requirements and develop a statement of work and procurement strategy, whilst ensuring that we followed ECWMF’s strict internal processes and adhered to governance.
2. eXceeding then created a tender pack and managed the process of shortlisting suppliers, bringing it our most experienced procurement consultants in the IT, FM and construction space to help assess the credibility of the suppliers due to the business-critical nature of the datacentre build and transition.
3. We managed the selection process and helped to ensure that the entire process was OJEU aligned and followed strict internal process to adhere to governance.
4. We oversaw the signing of contracts, defining clear SLAs and KPIs to guarantee supplier performance, before handing over to the transition and implementation team.

The future.

The complex datacentre build is due to transition throughout 2020 and 2021.

ECMWF had a build-up of onsite paper storage going back decades, eXceeding was selected to research and audit, develop policies, high-level strategy and go to market approach.