FIPS Licensing FAQs

SDS has to pay for licences in full at the beginning of each financial year. These are purchased using public funds and, therefore, SDS has a responsibility to ensure best use of those funds. SDS has negotiated with suppliers to obtain the lowest possible cost for licences. These savings have been passed on to providers who are only charged the cost of the licence with no additional administration fees on top. 

The current cost of a licence to use FIPS is £23.21 per user per month including VAT. This is subject to annual changes in price dictated by licence suppliers. SDS purchases licences for a full year in advance from 1 April each year and pays this in full. This will be passed on to providers as a lump sum, one off cost to be paid in April of each year. 

The cost of each licence is determined by Microsoft. SDS has negotiated with to obtain the lowest possible cost for licences. These savings have been passed on to providers who are only charged the cost of the licence with no additional administration fees on top. 

SDS has to pay for licences in full at the beginning of each financial year therefore providers will have to be charged in the same way. This is fully explained in the contracting documentation issued by SDS. Licences are purchased using public funds and SDS has a responsibility to ensure best use of those funds 

SDS owns the system and is the only party which can purchase licences for its use. 

Each system is unique and requires its own licence to be able to use it, even if they are built on the same Microsoft software platforms. 

SDS is unable to secure refunds from Microsoft for unused / returned licences and is therefore unable to offer this to providers. Licences are purchased using public funds and SDS has a responsibility to ensure best use of those funds. 

Licences are issued according to the numbers requested by each provider during the delegated authority process at the start of each contracting year. Providers can minimise costs by ensuring they only request the number of licences they need and keep SDS informed when licence holders leave or change roles. This will allow SDS to reallocate the licence to another individual at no extra cost. 

Each licence is allocated to an individual with a unique username and password. These should never be shared with anyone else, to do so is a breach of the contract rules and will result in action by SDS. However, if providers notify SDS of the change the licence can be reallocated by SDS to another individual at no extra cost to the provider. 

The process for managing FIPS user permissions can be found here. 

Licences are purchased using public funds and SDS has a responsibility to ensure best use of those funds so cannot offer additional discounts to any organisation. To provide best value, SDS has negotiated a substantial discount on behalf of providers and has chosen not to add on any fees to cover the cost of up front purchasing or recovery of licence fees.