Provision of ERP System Integrator Professional Services to Support the Implementation of SAP S/4 HANA

Description

NIE Networks Ltd is the electricity Distribution Network Operator (DNO) and transmission network owner in Northern Ireland. NIE Networks will shortly be undertaking a tender process (in accordance with the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016) to procure an SAP S/4 HANA Systems Integrator Services Contract (Contract), which Contract it is anticipated will commence in January 2026. It is currently expected that the Contract will include any or all of the following services: Programme and project management; detailed system and process design; system configuration; custom specification and developments; data migration; test; business change management and training; deployment and cutover; and go-live support and hypercare. Current estimated value is in the region of £40M - £81M. The estimated value range is broad due to the scoping of the project still being in progress. . Before commencing the tender process, NIE Networks Ltd intends to undertake a preliminary market engagement (PME) exercise to inform the market about the scope of the Contract and seek input from potential bidders which will be used to inform the process. The purpose of this notice then is to invite interested parties to express and register their interest in attending a PME briefing event, which will be held in Belfast on 12th November 2024. At this PME briefing event, NIE Networks Ltd will provide interested parties with an overview of the requirements, objectives, proposed approach to the forthcoming procurement and anticipated timelines. Interested parties shall be solely responsible for any costs incurred participating in any aspect of this PME event. Interested parties should register their interest and attendance via eSourcingNI (as below) by 5.00pm on 1st November 2024 providing the name(s) and contact email addresses of who will attend. Attendance shall be limited to a maximum of 3 attendees per organization. Registration for the PME briefing event(s) shall only be through eSourcingNI. pqq_4593 has been created on eSourcingNI where parties can register their interest to attend the session via the secure messaging function. Upon receipt of Suppliers' Expressions of Interest, we will provide additional information with further instructions on how to participate in the PME Briefing Event. The PME briefing event shall consist of a presentation by NIE Networks Ltd with an opportunity afterwards for interested parties to raise clarification questions. Interested parties should note that any questions regarding the content of the PME briefing event or procurement process raised in advance of the PME briefing event through eSourcingNI will not be responded to by NIE Networks Ltd. In the event that attendance at the PME Briefing Event has to be restricted due to available space, then the number of attendees per organisation may be further limited and if required organisations’ attendance restricted on a First-Come, First-Served basis. Interested parties should note however that a copy of the presentation and Market Sounding Questionnaire and Solution Briefing Document (as referred to further below) will be made available to all interested parties that register an interest on or before 1st November 2024, regardless of whether or not they are able to attend the PME Briefing Event. Responses to the MSQ should be submitted by 5:00pm on 29th November 2024 via eSourcingNI. There will be an opportunity for potential Suppliers to submit clarification questions as part of the Market Sounding Questionnaire. We will consider clarification questions up to 22nd November 2024 and will issue responses as promptly as possible. Responses to clarification messages will be anonymised and shared with all participating Suppliers. Lot 1: NIE Networks Ltd has been operating on SAP products since 1999 when SAP ECC was implemented with SAP Business Objects and SRM was added in 2008. In 2012 the company made a strategic investment by implementing the utility application SAP IS-U (separate instance) and SAP BW, further adding to the utilisation of SAP products and establishing a core technology platform on NIE Networks Ltd IT estate. The SAP applications form a fundamental platform in supporting the core NIE Networks business and market processes. Multiple internal non-SAP applications and external partner systems are integrated with the SAP system estate, working together to provide end to end business capabilities and overall compliance with Regulatory, Market and Statutory obligations. From the end of 2027, the current version of SAP ERP transitions to extended vendor support arrangements and will be out of full support by the end of 2030. NIE Networks Ltd plans to upgrade to SAP S/4 HANA to ensure interoperability with current systems be maintained and to fully leverage new technologies and functionalities on an established platform, thus maintaining a stable and secure system within the company's IT estate. The purpose of the Contract will be the provision of Systems Integrator services to support the design, build and deployment of the upgrade of the current SAP (ECC, SRM and IS-U) systems to the new S/4HANA solution and supporting applications. It is currently anticipated that the solution scope will include, but not limited to: - Migrating from SAP ECC6.0, SRM and IS-U to SAP S/4 HANA - Migrating from SAP Business Objects and Business Warehouse to a new SAP reporting architecture - Migration of a bespoke Job Management System (JMS), which supports the New Connections function, to S/4 HANA The Services Scope includes but is not limited to: Programme and Project Governance & Management including Quality Assurance; Business Process Design & Gap Identification; SAP Detailed Design; SAP licensing; Solution Build (Configuration & RICEFWs) & Unit Testing; Data Cleansing & Non-SAP Extraction; Data Extraction and Data Transformation & Loading; Test Plan & Management; System Integration Testing: Test Scripts & Execution; User Acceptance Testing: Scripts, Execution, Training & Training Documentation; Cutover Planning & Management; Cutover Execution; Business Readiness & End-User Training; Go-live Support; SAP Technical Architecture & Basis; Organisational Change, Communications, Business Engagement and Readiness. NIE Networks Ltd currently anticipates that the Contract will not be split into lots, however this is a specific element that NIE Networks Ltd will be seeking interested parties’ feedback on as part of the PME. NIE Networks Ltd will finalise the procurement strategy (including, without limitation, whether or not to split the Contract into lots) once it has considered all feedback provided. Nothing in this Prior Information Notice is intended to commit NIE Networks Ltd to a subsequent procurement. It is anticipated that the tendering process will commence in late January 2025.