Appendix 4: The Infrastructure as a Service contracts

Infrastructure as a Service ensures that all organisations get the same quality of service – for the level of service they buy – on the same terms and conditions.

The GCIO has a detailed, lengthy contract with each provider (called a lead agency agreement) that sets out the framework for operating Infrastructure as a Service and details the relationships between, and responsibilities of, the GCIO, ICT providers, and participating organisations. Among other matters, the lead agency agreement makes ICT providers responsible for telling the GCIO about new or improved technology or other changes that could improve or affect Infrastructure as a Service.

Two other contracts create back-to-back arrangements with the lead agency agreement. The contracts must be read alongside the lead agency agreement and are relatively short. The contracts are:

• a memorandum of understanding between the organisation and the GCIO, which includes arrangements for organisations to pay a monthly administration fee to the GCIO to pay for the costs involved in establishing and managing Infrastructure as a Service; and
• a participating agency agreement between the organisation and their preferred ICT provider, which sets out:
  • a plan for organisations to transition to Infrastructure as a Service;
  • the services and service levels that ICT providers will deliver after the move; and
  • prices for the services that organisations plan to use.