The Scottish Government is setting up a dynamic purchasing system (DPS) contract for the country’s public sector to procure internet of things (IoT) technology.
It has sent out the contract notice for suppliers to apply for places on the framework, which takes in software, hardware and services for activities such as device management, data management, analytics, application enablement and management, and security.
The document makes the point that the Scottish public sector is at an early stage in harnessing the IoT, but expects growth over the two years of the contract.
It indicates that at least 20 suppliers are expected to win places, and the DPS mechanism allows for others to be added during the contract’s lifetime.
This follows the Scottish Government’s launch in August of last year of a £6 million programme to set up a national long range wide area network (LoRaWAN) to support IoT applications.
Named IoT Scotland, the network will have a longer reach than any LoRaWANs deployed so far in the UK, and will have the capacity to support the country’s public and private services.
Image from US Federal Trade Commission, public domain through Wikimedia.