13  Deductions for Unavailability

13.1  Unavailability of the Service Provider System

(a)  for a continuous period of [♦] or more or any period of [♦] or more in a [♦] period19 during Core Hours20 shall always be classified as a Severity 1 Service Failure;

(b)  for a continuous period of [♦] or more of any period of [♦] or more in a [♦]21 period shall always be classified as Severity 2 Service Failure

13.2  The Service Provider shall measure the Availability of the Service Provider System in accordance with the requirements of [Schedule 13/ICT Output Specification]

13.3  The Service Provider System shall be Available when the Availability Conditions set out in this paragraph 13.3 are met.  The Availability Conditions are:

(a)  Authorised Users are able to access and utilise all the functions of the Service Provider System during the Core Hours and Non-Core Hours;

(b)  Data Network Throughput is maintained throughout Core Hours and Non-Core Hours;

(c)  during Core Hours the Data Network Integrity of the Service Provider's System is [100%];

(d)  during Non-Core Hours the Data Network Integrity of the Service Provider's System is [♦]%22

13.4  The Authority reserves the right to verify the Availability of the Service Provider System including by sending test transactions through the Service Provider System or otherwise.

13.5  Unavailability shall be measured as a percentage of the total time in a Service Period in which there is Service Downtime in accordance with the following formula:23

Where:

MP = Total number of minutes, excluding Permitted Maintenance, within the relevant Payment Period; and

SD = Total number of minutes of Service Downtime in the relevant Payment Period.

13.6  In respect of each Payment Period, the Authority shall be able to make a Deduction in respect of an Unavailability Event equal to the higher of:

(a)  the Minimum Unavailability Deduction; and

(b)  an amount calculated in accordance with the following formula

where:

UD = the Deduction to be made for an Unavailability Event

ASPn = the Annual Service Payment in Contract Year n

SU = the Service Unavailability % calculated in accordance with paragraph 13.5 above

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19 Authority to decide key periods depending on criticality of availability of System.

20 Authority to decide whether criteria should be set in relation to Non-Core Hours too.

21 Authority to decide key periods depending on criticality of availability of System.

22 Insert relevant level of Non Core Hours.

23 A worked example would be:

The service is unavailable for 2 hours (120 minutes) in a 30 day month (43,200 minutes) therefore the % Service Unavailability is calculated as follows:

2.78% = 00278 x 100

Therefore the Unavailability Deduction (UD) in any month can be calculated as follows:

UD = 2.78%

Where APSn is the Annual Payment for the relevant year