Q-SOLUTION LIMITED

Secure Infrastructure Software as a Service

An AWS secured platform, connected to PSN Protected, accredited to OFFICIAL . Allows the buyer to focus on application build, leaving infrastructure security and connectivity to us. Platform includes all necessary System Monitoring, Protective Monitoring, AV, IDS, IPS, Alerting, Remote Access, Vulnerability Assessment, Threat Detection and Behavioural Monitoring

Features

• PSN Protected connection accredited to hold up to OFFICIAL data
• Protective Monitoring and real time alerting
• Dynamic alerting via Slack, email, SMS and .GOV notify
• Anti Malware for data in transit
• Open API enabling customers to consume data in house
• Dedicated Support team
• Built to scale on 100% serverless architecture
• Certified against Cyber Essentials Plus
• Data held entirely within UK Sovereign Data Centres
• Design against NCSC Cloud Security Principles and Architecture Patterns

Benefits

• Accelerates Digital Transformation Programmes
• Reduced Capital Expenditure
• Leverage the benefits of an integrated Continuous Integration (CI) pipeline
• Connection to PSN Protected at the outset enabling early integration
• Reduced maintenance overhead
• User security inherently built into the platform
• Integrate Management information (MI) into your own in house systems
• No requirement to build complex and time-consuming Protective Monitoring services

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at contact@q-solution.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

762818265728635

Contact

Kevin Hoskins
07538023530
contact@q-solution.co.uk

About your service

• Service categories:

  Systems Infrastructure Software

  Security

  • Cloud native application protection platform
• Multi cloud support: No

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: The following are the current limitations of the service. We do however encourage customers to review these pages and the dashboard for changes made to the service as we aim to continually improve the capacity, availability and overall service provision.; ; The platform is for workloads on the PSN Protected network and indirect networks (LECN) and not for Internet workloads.; ; AWS Connect PSN Protected bandwidth over VPLS port limited to 100Mbps.
• System requirements: None

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Response times to incidents are as per our SLA. Questions raised on an incident are responded to within an appropriate timeframe to ensure the incident is resolved within the given SLA
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: No
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: No
• Support levels: Support hours for the service desk is between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday excluding UK Public Holidays. Our Protective Monitoring and System Monitoring however operates 24/7/365 and will generate alerts throughout this period in the event of any priority incidents occurring. The service availability outside of core hours allows for patches, change requests and enhancements to be made to the service. A scheduled maintenance window will operate with notification of changes published to the Service Desk Portal as well as communicated via the customers preferred channel. By design, the services provides the necessary resilience to allow patching to occur without service interruption
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Detailed onboarding documentation will be provided to the buyer at service commencement
• Service documentation: No
• End-of-contract data extraction: This will be detailed in the On Boarding and Off boarding process documents provided to the customer and will align to the latest Data Protection Standards
• End-of-contract process: Details of any additional costs will be provided in the Off Boarding procedures. However, as a iSasS service, there would typically not be expected any additional costs for Off Boarding

Using the service

• Web browser interface: No
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Customisations can be applied on a case by case basis

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Our OFFICIAL Secure Infrastructure Software as a Service (iSaaS) is a multi-tenanted service. Resources are not consumed dynamically throughout a customers contract but, instead, consumed and fixed at the point of service commencement. Our solution is fully scalable and, coupled with a monitored capacity plan, we ensure that the service has the necessary resource capacity to cater for additional customers as they are on boarded onto the service

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: All metrics available within AWS can be provided
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Reports on request
• Resource tagging: Yes
• FOCUS resource tagging: Yes

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 4.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v4.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed / Cryptographic Erasure

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Users typically deploy their data and code via their own pipeline and are therefore in control of all necessary data requiring export
• Data export formats: Other
• Data import formats: Other

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Availability of the service during working hours (8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday excluding Bank Holidays) - 99.9% ; Availability of the service outside of working hours - 99.5%
• Approach to resilience: The service is designed and built to be entirely cloud native and serverless. Detailed information on the design for resilience of the solution can be provided during the On Boarding process and subject to confidentiality provisions
• Outage reporting: Planned outages are reported through formal Change Requests raised with the customer at least 2 weeks prior to the implementation. Change Management procedures are available upon request Any unplanned outages are alerted via email initially and tracked through our ticketing system

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Only support staff with SC clearance have access. Access is restricted to individuals accredited machines. Support staff required password and MFA. Account activity is protectively monitored and alerted. Staff have a single master account for logging in and 'Assume Role' into other accounts enable fine grain authentication and access on a 'needs to know' basis.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: Our Security Working Group oversees the implementation, maintenance and improvement of our ISO27001:2022 Information Security Management System (ISMS). This ISMS encompasses numerous process, policies and procedures including Information Security Policy, Acceptable Usage Policy, Statement of Applicability (SOA), Risk Assessment, Secure Development Policy, MMAE Policy, Business Continuity Policy and Plan and Change and Configuration Management among many others. Additionally we have an independent IT Health Check (ITHC) performed by a CHECK Team annually and are certified to Cyber Essentials Plus (CES+)
• Software Security Code of Practice: Yes

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Q-Solution have a defined set of Operational Security Policies that form part of our Risk Assessment. Together with our security working group, we ensure that appropriate operational security measures are in place to maintain our ongoing government accreditation and support our overall company Information Security Management System (ISMS) conforming to ISO27001:2022. Specific details of our Operational Security practices including our Change Management Processes are not made public here but are available upon request from the buyer along with details of our Cyber Essentials Plus certification.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: We have a separately documented vulnerability management process that can be shared with customers upon request covering areas such as Monitoring, Threat Detection, Security Alerting, Compliance, Audit Logging, SIEM, Patch Management and anti malware
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: We have a separately documented Protective Monitoring process that can be shared with customers upon request covering areas such as Monitoring, Threat Detection, Security Alerting, Compliance, Audit Logging and SIEM
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: We have a comprehensive documented approach to both Incident and Problem Management. This information, in the form of PDF can be provided to customers on request
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: No

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v4.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: Yes
• Connected networks: Public Services Network (PSN)

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

• Less than £250,000: 0%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 0%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 0%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 0%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 0%
• Over £5,000,001: 0%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: BSI
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Saturday 17 June 2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: N/A
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: No
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: C47ab28a-34ed-45e1-93b4-3d1f9215cce2
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number: 4c984142-4fb8-4f4d-85e1-78567c6a7427
• Other security certifications: No

Social value

• Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery:

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

    • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
    • New apprenticeships on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • Monitoring and reporting of gender and ethnicity pay gaps and plans to address them where necessary
    • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
    • Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
    • Support for the contract workforce by providing career advice, and providing opportunities for staff working on the contract with in-work progression career development into known skills shortages or high growth areas
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
    • Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

    • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Activities to support relevant sector related skills growth and sustainability in the contract workforce. Illustrative examples: careers talks, curriculum support, literacy support, safety talks and volunteering
    • Delivery of apprenticeships, supported internships and T Level industry placement opportunities (Level 2, 3 and 4+) in relation to the contract

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

    • Activities that demonstrate a collaborative way to work with a diverse range of businesses as part of the supply chain
    • Advertising of supply chain opportunities openly and to ensure they are accessible to a diverse range of businesses, including advertising all subcontracting opportunities on Contracts Finder
    • Ensuring accessibility to contracting and subcontracting opportunities for disabled business owners and employees
    • Structuring of the supply chain selection process to ensure fairness (e.g. anti-corruption) and encourages participation by a diverse range of businesses, including with regard to new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutual

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at contact@q-solution.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.