T-Systems positions itself at the head of the race to manage the Catalan public cloud for €400M

BarcelonaThe German telecommunications group T-Systems is positioning itself as the leading company in the race to manage the Catalan public cloud. In a report prepared by the Center for Telecommunications and Information Technologies (CTTI) –the public company that integrates all the IT and telecommunications services of the Generalitat–, the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary has obtained the highest score to take charge of the service over the next eight years. The other candidates are Telefónica and the Japanese company NTT Data.

It should be noted that the document is only a favorable report and, therefore, is not a final award. The assessment –available as of this Friday on the Public Procurement Service Platform– will now be transferred to the CTTI procurement board, which will issue a final verdict at the end of this year. The contract is valued at 330 million euros, a figure that rises to almost 400 million euros if the additional 21% VAT is taken into account.

As the report indicates, T-Systems obtained the maximum score in practically all sections. Specifically, the CTTI highlights its "extensive catalog" of specific services available in Catalonia, as well as the "agility" to deploy them. The technicians also praise the interoperability of its platform with external systems –both corporate government tools of the CTTI and other third-party applications and services– and the "maturity" of the solutions it provides.

A cloud to strengthen digital autonomy

The initiative to promote a sovereign public cloud in Catalonia stems from the Government itself. Last July, Salvador Illa's executive opened the tender for the contract with an initial estimated value of 481 million euros. Although the contract covers the first eight years, the Government's intention is to maintain it once this period has passed.

The tender aims to provide Catalonia with new capabilities to protect and store the data of citizens and public services. It must be remembered that, currently, 80% of the Generalitat's services are hosted in a private cloud. With the new public infrastructure in operation, it is expected that 40% of the administration's most sensitive data, such as those linked to health or security, will be hosted there. 30% will remain in a private cloud, while the other 30% will operate from another public cloud to "take advantage of its capacity for innovation and scalability".