WP1874 .gov.uk Domain Name Protection

A Contract Award Notice
by GOVERNMENT DIGITAL SERVICE

Source: Find a Tender
Type: Contract (Services)
Duration: not specified
Value: £310K

Sector: TECHNOLOGY
Published: 17 Jun 2021
Delivery: not specified
Deadline: n/a

Concepts

Location

United Kingdom:

Geochart for 1 buyers and 1 suppliers

1 buyer

Government Digital Service London

1 supplier

Nominet Oxford

Description

To build a DNS availability monitoring service for the '.gov.uk' Domain Name.

Total Quantity or Scope

To build a DNS availability monitoring service for the '.gov.uk' Domain Name

Award Detail

1	Nominet (Oxford) Reference: 013803-2021-1 Value: £310,000

Renewal Options

The Contract ends on 10 December 2023. The Contract can be extended for a further 12 months or such term as agreed

Award Criteria

Quality	80
Cost	20

CPV Codes

72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Indicators

Options are available.

Legal Justification

As well as "Protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights", justification on the grounds of "Absence of competition for technical reasons" applies. There is a natural monopoly here. The '.gov.uk' top-level delegation record can only be provided by Nominet because Nominet has the exclusive arrangement with IANA (the organisation that coordinates the Internet's globally unique identifiers) to host the higher-level '.uk' record. The availability monitoring solution must be provided under Nominet's direct control because Nominet has to integrate it into their internal systems.