In 2021, the Géant Association, representing 40 NRENs (National Research and Education Networks) with 20,000 European higher education institutions, negotiated a pan-European framework agreement for cloud services, called OCRE 2020, for a period of 4 years. Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through its FCCN unit, was responsible for streamlining the processes required for contracting between Confirmed Entities and suppliers. It's time to look at what has been achieved and understand the future objectives of this project.
The results of OCRE 2020
The OCRE 2020 Framework Agreement established the main contractual terms, such as price, quantity, obligations and service ordering procedures, with the most important IaaS+ Cloud Service providers.
Over the years, this has become an emblematic service for many NRENs, increasing its importance. It is currently used by more than 900 institutions in 26 countries, being that in 2023 reached a collective value of 90 million euros, which corresponds to an increase of 30% compared to 2022.
OCRE 2020, in Portugal, had, until September 30, 2023, 16 institutions that had already contracted 1.3 million euros, in Cloud services, with three suppliers.
The current status and objectives of OCRE 2024
It is expected that the new OCRE Framework Agreement 2024 begin in December 2024 and remain in force for a period of 5 years. The objective will be to tender IaaS+ cloud services (IaaS, PaaS and SaaS), resulting in framework agreements to be used by institutions in participating countries.
In this new agreement, greater influx from suppliers is expected, due to the growing consumption of Cloud services at OCRE 2020. The range of services and platforms is also expected to increase, as there may be up to three providers per Platform/Solution and per country. In this context, Géant anticipates receiving between 2000 and 3000 proposals, in the supplier selection phase.
The FCT, in collaboration with the Sec-General, will participate in the team evaluation and scoring of the proposals, between the end of January and July 2024This phase, which is now beginning, was preceded by an invitation to eligible institutions to express their interest in participating. In this process, the eligible profile was expanded to include institutions that, in some way, contribute to the education of society.
In Portugal, expressions of interest in OCRE 2024 were 93% higher than in OCRE 2020, with a notable increase in the number of Research and Development Units and two accessions related to the Culture area..
The List of Participating Institutions is still open, but will close in January 2024, on a deadline to be announced by the Géant Association. The current list of entities that have already joined OCRE 2024 can be found at https://www.fccn.pt/computacao/cloud-ocre/.
