The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is relocating its IT infrastructure for procurement systems
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is relocating its IT infrastructure for procurement systems to a crown-hosted site in Corsham, which will involve a physical move of the equipment taking place in August 2023. This letter advises suppliers of the necessary system downtime required to complete the move.
System Downtime
In order to facilitate the move of infrastructure equipment, the MOD will be switching off its procurement systems at 17:00 on Friday 11th August 2023. Following the move, systems will be reinstated and switched on for use at 09:00 on Wednesday 23rd August 2023.
During the downtime, the MOD will not be able to process any invoices, new orders or receipts on its Contracting Purchasing & Finance (CP&F) tool. Consequently, payments will be deferred until after the systems have been reinstated on Wednesday 23 August.
The MOD is making every effort to minimise the impact on suppliers and will ensure it meets its contractual and legal obligations but should these arrangements cause you any difficulty, you should contact your MOD Commercial Officer as soon as possible and agree a course of action.
Delivery and Invoicing
Suppliers can still deliver goods and services in accordance with contractual arrangements and those trading via Exostar can continue to submit invoices during this time - the invoices will go on hold until MOD can process them through CP&F.
Orders
MOD will not be able to send orders through CP&F. MOD has processes for issuing high priority orders during the downtime and may bring some orders forward. In any case, MOD will take all action to process the backlog of orders following the outage.
Tendering and Opportunities
The Defence Sourcing Portal will not be impacted by the relocation, therefore MOD and suppliers can continue to use full functionality in relation to advertising opportunities, expressing interest and submitting responses to Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQs) and Invitations to Tender (ITTs).
Further Information
The following websites will be updated regularly with the latest information about the relocation and system availability:
2. www.myexostar.com - for those with Exostar accounts.
Should you have any questions about managing your contract during the planned system downtime, please engage your MOD Commercial Officer directly.