Vehicle Hardware

The Authority is seeking to procure a supplier to provide suitable Vehicle Hardware for use in Vehicles such as ambulances by Service Recipients, including the English Ambulance Trusts and potentially also other Service Recipients, such as the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust and the Scottish Ambulance Service, if those bodies elect to participate in the procurement.

The principal objective of the procurement is to provide suitable Vehicle Hardware for use by Service Recipients in Vehicles such as ambulances including to:

• run the 'National Mobilisation Application' (NMA) software;
• provide the in-Vehicle connectivity and functional capabilities needed by the NMA; and
• support resilient mobile communications connectivity to/from the Vehicle for NMA and to support other applications being used by the Service Recipients.

The Vehicle Hardware comprises

• a 'Vehicle Router' - a 'smart' mobile router suitable for use in a vehicle, capable of connecting to multiple mobile communications bearers (including the ESN) and providing various capabilities, connectivity and interface ports to support NMA functionality;
• a 'Vehicle Tablet Device' - a ruggedised touch screen tablet device suitable for running the NMA application (with small and large screen options);
• a 'Vehicle Dock' - a dock suitable for securely mounting the Vehicle Tablet Device in the vehicle; and
• 'Accessories' - associated hardware items such as antennas, wiring looms, connectors, external controls, audio microphones/loudspeakers, etc.

A 'Mobile Device and Application Management' (MDAM) solution to suit the Vehicle Hardware is also required.

Phases

In order to achieve the above, the procurement includes the following delivery phases

• Design Phase - delivering design workshops with the Authority and Other ARP Suppliers to develop and review the required Designs, including the Integrated Vehicle Hardware Design, Preferred Vehicle Installation Documents, Integrated End-to-End Communications Design, MDAM Architecture Design, Hardware Installation Design and the Service Management Design;
• Build and Test Phase - delivering implementation, integration, testing and acceptance and training services in connection with the Vehicle Hardware and associated services;
• Live Service Phase - supply of the Vehicle Hardware and MDAM and associated services (including hardware support, MDAM support, catalogue services, support desk services, technical support and preparation of related documentation); and
• Future Projects - adding (at the Authority's discretion) any Future Projects into the scope of this procurement, as further detailed in Annex 4 of the Key Commercial Principles. A key example is to allow for future hardware provision/modifications and/or integration work required in order to be able to support the ESN voice application, once details of this are established.