years of history, approached RNP in order to establish cooperation. The initial objective was to evolve with its information security, in view of the college's offer of services to society, as well as to carry out a diagnosis for adequacy to the General Data Protection Law (LGPD).

During the conversations, the parties saw the need for a bond as being mutual, since RNP also needed to expand its actions and knowledge with a reliable partner, with which it could deal with LGPD. Only after adapting the technological environment at the CPII, would it be possible to identify, more clearly, what the college could offer as solutions to the RNP System, in terms of adjustments and other information security issues. Within this context, the agreement was defined as an instrument for formalizing the relationship. 

Legal and administrative challenges
The choice brought several complex challenges, which almost made the project never get off the ground. RNP's lack of familiarity with this type of instrument was almost an impediment.  

“Agreement has particularities and complexities that mean that the execution of this instrument requires a lot of legal support, both to sign and to reach the end of the project successfully, as well as to carry out deliveries and rendering of accounts. It has very demanding legislation”, emphasizes RNP's legal specialist, responsible for supporting the end-to-end process, Ana Telles.

The specialist also points out that RNP had little experience with agreements and even a certain amount of fear, due to the demands for accountability. "It was a test, so to speak", recalls the specialist. "The time we had to execute the resource was reduced and an agreement can only be used if there is a common objective between the parties, and we had that with the CPII", she adds. 

The process was so intense and challenging for the professional that she remembers mailing the documentation in person after lights out. "I stayed up until the early hours of the morning working with Daniel Caetano (Solutions manager and creator of the agreement with the CPII, who passed away in 2020). We had this situation in contracting and instrumentalization, it was all very intense, with little time for maturation, although Daniel had already had many conversations and Luiz Coelho (Deputy Director of Services) as well”, concludes Ana Telles.

According to the specialist, the biggest administrative obstacle encountered was related to the need to register all information on the bond in the Transfer Agreements and Contracts Management System (Siconv), on the Mais Brasil platform, which, as of 2023, will be be called Transferegov. To overcome this challenge, the entire RNP team involved in the beginning of the project and CPII representatives participated in a training course. A Sincov “mirror” system was also developed internally, to facilitate the inclusion and organization of the necessary data related to the agreement.

“Only last year (2022) did Science and Technology (S&T) agreements receive special treatment. They are always agreements with three parties: grantors, grantees and a foundation, which has full administrative support to act as management. RNP had to work with all of that”, says specialist in agreements Alessandro Reis, who was responsible for providing the training and ended up joining the team, in order to guarantee the compliance of all processes during the execution of the project.

With the obstacles overcome, the agreement was approved by the Advocacy General of the Union (AGU) and published in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU), on January 29, 2020. 

Scope expansion
The COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Brazil in mid-March 2020, imposing social isolation and remote work, with no scheduled date for returning to face-to-face activities. The new scenario generated difficulties for the CPII in carrying out its core activities, also creating needs for technological resources and, therefore, new points to be deliberated for the continuity of the agreement and for guaranteeing the viability of meeting the community's demand (students and teachers) of the college.

Therefore, a new work plan was agreed, including the newly identified needs, both of the CPII and of RNP itself, which, at that point, was already operating in cloud services for education. Within this context, three goals were defined: Goal 1 – Focus on security; Goal 2 – Focus on networks; Goal 3 – Focus on training.

“We modified the project with the same objects to serve more during the pandemic. What Colégio Pedro II had in terms of infrastructure was insufficient for the situation”, recalls the project manager on the RNP side, Patrícia Almeida

“With the same financial resources, we increased the project three times, at least. The security part by itself was immense, training was also totally directed towards making their team able to function with the challenges of the pandemic. The services team analyzed the entire business issue, where we changed the type of business treatment and, with that, we acquired conditions to evaluate for any client in the RNP community”, explains Patrícia.

Current chief of staff of Colégio Pedro II's rectory, Luiz Pereira, who at the time was director of Information Technology at CPII, says that the initial milestone for the implementation of the agreement, in the first half of 2021, was fundamental to alleviate the situation of crisis in education caused by the pandemic. According to him, the action ensured the quality and scalability of Moodle, contributing to the continuity of the planned courses and the administrative structure. The format of the classes, within the platform, was decisive in guaranteeing the high standard of teaching for students.

“The CPII had a big problem at hand. We were in the middle of the pandemic and our hosting studio couldn't support Moodle with 15,000 students and 1,250 teachers connected. Through the agreement, we were able to carry out a record migration, in two days, and make it available to all students. Then there was the integration with Eduplay”, says Luiz Pereira.

For the chief of staff of Colégio Pedro II's rectory, the challenges overcome made RNP gain maturity in this offer model. After the CPII, the institution started to offer the service through NasNuvens with quality, maturity and lower cost to other partners. “We had a series of challenges that were overcome, but it was so successful that we understood that the support was worth it and today we have a contract with RNP to maintain it”, says Pereira.

In parallel with the migration of Moodle, which was included in the scope of Goal 2, the other two goals set for the agreement were achieved, which is on track to end in early 2023. In all, almost 87% of the resources for external payment were executed. The remaining 13% is being returned to the Union.

“It was largely positive, because we met the legal compliance of a series of steps. In addition, we assisted our students in a time of crisis, which was very difficult for them in terms of learning. The services that were implemented by CPII, after dialogue and cooperation with RNP, were well executed and accepted by the community. In addition, the decisions were right, especially in the return of the resources, which shows fairness and well-executed accountability. The exchange with RNP was very positive, I already knew the institution, but, from the customer's point of view, the balance was very positive”, adds Luiz.

Mutual benefits
According to the definition, an agreement is a form of adjustment between participants for the realization of common interest, through mutual collaboration. In the first experience with this type of instrument, RNP was able to experience in practice the perception of a legacy of benefits generated both for Colégio Pedro II and for itself.

“Everything we did, despite the threefold increase in the scope of deliveries, generated a gain for RNP, whose reach is almost impossible to measure. What makes me most proud of this project is being able to say that it was fully implemented by RNP and that everyone felt like a participant in its execution. All people from each area had their contribution and every little bit was important for the final delivery”, evaluates Patrícia Machado.

Consonant with the verification of everything that was elaborated and produced in partnership, the CPII is already able to identify the main legacies of cooperation. “Moodle integrated with the Web Conference and Eduplay is a great achievement. It was extremely important due to the moment of the pandemic and it continues to be important these days. But, I especially highlight the security actions, which are perennial and have brought standardization gains in addition to making it possible to replace a costly contract. I like to say that the security actions were the jewels in the crown”, jokes Luiz Pereira

Check out the video with the testimonials of the chief of staff of the rectory of Colégio Pedro II, Luiz Pereira, and the IT director, Felipe Medeiros.