1  Introduction

1.1  The Service Provider shall provide the ICT Services in accordance with the Service Specification and to the Performance Levels set out in this Schedule.

1.2  2ICT Services shall comprise of:

(a)  [ICT Helpdesk Services as described in Appendix 1];

(b)  [Desktop Services as described in Appendix 2];

(c)  [Network Services as described in Appendix 3]; and

(d)  3[                          ].

1.3  4Service Improvements

(a)  The Service Provider shall have an ongoing obligation throughout the Contract Period to identify new or potential improvements to the ICT Services [and/or the Service Provider's System] in accordance with this paragraph 1.3 [and Schedule [  ] (Continuous Improvement)]⁵.  As part of this obligation the Service Provider shall identify and report to the Authority [quarterly] during the first twelve months of the Contract Period and then once every [6] months for the remainder of the Contract Period on:  

(i)  the emergence of new and evolving relevant technologies which could improve the ICT Services [and/or the Service Provider's System], and those technological advances potentially available to the Service Provider and the Authority which the parties may wish to adopt; and/or

(ii)  new or potential improvements to the ICT Services including the [quality, responsiveness, procedures, benchmarking methods, likely performance mechanisms and customer support services in relation to the ICT Services [and/or the Service Provider's System]];

(iii)  new or potential improvements to the interfaces or integration of the ICT Services with other services[, or the Service Provider's System with other systems,] provided by third parties or the Authority which might result in efficiency or productivity gains or in reduction of operational risk; and/or

(iv)  changes in business processes and ways of working that would enable the ICT Services to be delivered[, or the Service Provider's System to be made available,] at lower costs and/or at greater benefits to the Authority.

(b)  The Service Provider shall ensure that the information that it provides to the Authority shall be sufficient for the Authority to decide whether any improvement should be implemented.  The Service Provider shall provide any further information that the Authority requests.  

__________________________________________________________________________________
2  This is a sample list of some classic types of ICT Services.

3  Some types of Service may be specific to the Authority's particular environment/mandate e.g. support for specific ICT infrastructure for the education sector.     

4  For each Service it is important to specify the Service Provider's obligations in relation to the continuous improvement of the Service over the life of the contract.  This is particularly important for longer term contracts.  Some of the methods of improving performance may have hard measures linked e.g. a year on year price reduction based on efficiency gains.  Others may have softer measures e.g. customer satisfaction surveys and targets.

5  To be added if further detail is considered to be appropriate