Procurement & contracting
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We aggregate the demand and need at institutions and purchase software and hardware on this basis.

Maaike Hazewinkel

Maaike Hazewinkel

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MIIP Copilot applications - FAQ

Microsoft 365 Copilot has been available for the commercial market since 1 November 2023. Microsoft announced on 14 December that the English version of Microsoft 365 Copilot will also be available for educational and research institutions from 1 January 2024.

You can read more about this on the Expanding Microsoft Copilot access in education | Microsoft EDU webpage. We understand that this may raise questions, so you will find an FAQ below.

Disclaimer: We have made every effort to update this FAQ with the knowledge available so far. We will be adding to this information in the near future.

Microsoft AI services overview

Price information notes AI service/product

  1. free
  2. has fixed price agreements in the Microsoft - SURF consortium agreement
  3. is listed with price in the EES price list - for the educational sector
  4. is available via Azure, price agreements tender service SURFcumulus
  5. is listed with price in Microsoft's commercial price lists
Microsoft AI Service Available in the market? Orderable via SURF? SURF contractual terms and conditions applicable? Price information
Microsoft Copilot yes no no 1. free of charge (formerly Bing Chat)
Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection via Entra ID yes no, access to the service via an M365 A3/A5 licence no 1. free of charge (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise)

(condition: you have purchased an M365 A3/A5 licence). Student Use Benefit will follow from February 2024 (students 18 years and older)
Copilot for Sales yes yes yes 2. SURFconsortium price list via Dynamics 365 Sales licence
Copilot Studio yes yes yes 3. EES price list
Microsoft Fabric yes yes yes 3. EES price list via Power BI Premium licence

4. Price via Azure (SURFcumulus)
Azure Open AI yes yes yes Price via Azure (SURFcumulus)
Copilot for M365 yes no, on request yes 5. available for educational sector, but SURF is in discussion with Microsoft on terms and conditions.
Github Copilot Individual, Business yes no n/a n/a
Copilot for Windows no N/A N/A N/A
Copilot Security no N/A N/A N/A
Have price agreements been made by SURF with Microsoft (for Microsoft 365 Copilot)?

New products and/or services launched by Microsoft after the conclusion of the 2022-2026 consortium agreement do not have fixed discounts and/or prices. As soon as we jointly wish to purchase a volume of interest to Microsoft, we will enter into discussions with Microsoft about this and assess what we can do for participants in the SURF consortium agreement.

What is SURF's role?

SURF procurement and contracting has intensive contact with Microsoft Netherlands, EMEA and Microsoft Corporate Headquarters. SURF is the interlocutor for Microsoft and represents the interests of all participants in the Microsoft SURF consortium agreement. Microsoft Corporate marketing strategy may follow the path of adding the new products and services directly to the monthly Microsoft price list available to Microsoft partners.

Are new products and/or services coming to market? If so, we have the following options:

short notice

  • take notice and take action as soon as relevant
  • discuss directly with Microsoft to explore whether adjustments to the product, price and/or licence conditions are possible
  • inform institutions about this as fully as possible

longer term

  • determine whether the current contract terms are still adequate and applicable
  • investigate possible privacy risks when taking software into use
  • keep providing institutions with up-to-date information
What information has SURF already shared about Microsoft AI services?

SURF has organised several webinars and presentations over the past year on the introduction of Microsoft AI services, which can enrich practically all products in Microsoft's offering. From our joint innovation and inspiration programme MIIP, enthusiasm about the possibilities has been shared with those interested.

  • Webinar M365 Roadmap (Copilot introduction) - April 2023
  • Webinar Fabric - September 2023
  • MIIP Day - M365 Copilot/Fabric/AzureOpenAI/ - September 2023
  • M365 Copilot demos at SURF Education Days - November 2023
  • Webinar Fabric, part 2 - January 2024

Watch recordings of MIIP events? Check out theMy SURFmarket > Customer Service > Services > MIIP page (behind login).

Do the privacy agreements made by SURF apply?

Are these Microsoft's own AI services available for purchase within the SURF consortium agreement? If so, they also fall under the privacy terms of the SURF consortium agreement. SURF has been assisted by external lawyers, who have confirmed this conclusion.

To which AI services do the privacy terms not apply?

The following AI services are not covered by the privacy terms associated with the SURF consortium agreement:

  • Third-party AI services available through Microsoft Azure, via the Azure marketplace
  • Free/paid/beta AI services from Microsoft that are not available through the SURF consortium agreement, for example:
    • Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat)
    • Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise)
    • future AI additions in Office 365 A1
Has privacy risk monitoring been carried out?

For now, we have only done an analysis on the contractual and legal terms. No check on privacy risks has yet taken place. An inventory is being made within the SURF Vendor Compliance service as to which processes we will pick up next year at the request of the institutions. Microsoft 365 Copilot is on the wish list of the SURF Vendor Compliance service. Whether and when we pick it up depends on the other requests submitted. Decision-making of the final 2024 list will follow.

For more information on the above three questions, read our message of Thursday 23 November 2023 Microsoft AI services, privacy terms SURF consortium agreement.pdf.

Why does Microsoft talk about the DPA and SURF talk about 'Privacy Agreements'?

SURF has made separate agreements with Microsoft that go beyond Microsoft's standard privacy terms. Microsoft's privacy terms are called DPA (Data Protection Addendum). Are there agreements better regulated in the DPA than in the agreements made with SURF? Then those agreements automatically apply to the members of SURF.

Are DPA and DPIA the same thing?

No:

  • Data Protection Addendum (DPA): contains agreements on where data is stored.
  • Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA): zooms in on the processing of personal data, is a tool to understand this and determine what measures need to be taken.
As an institution, what do you need to think about before using Copilot?

Before use, consider the following questions:

  • Does your institution have the right insights and information to be able to deploy it according to your institution's guidelines?
  • Are ICT administrators and online managers able to oversee the appropriate impact and take appropriate action?

For example: do you turn off Microsoft Search in Bing? Then this does not automatically turn off Copilot or commercial data protection as well. Do you want to turn off Copilot or commercial data protection? Follow the steps as described in the webpage Manage Copilot | Microsoft Learn.

Is Copilot covered by SURF's privacy terms?

No, SURF privacy agreements require company data to remain at tenant level within the geographical region and/or stated boundaries. Copilot uses data centres worldwide, including in the US. In addition, SURF has not yet conducted a technical investigation (Data Protection Impact Assessment | DPIA) on Copilot solutions. As a result, we cannot determine with certainty how data is handled by Microsoft and whether additional agreements are necessary.

What is the difference between Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365?

Copilot uses data from the internet to provide answers, Copilot for Microsoft 365 uses data from your own tenant. Note that there are two variants of Copilot, for the differences see the table under the question "Is there a list of available AI services?".

Does Copilot for M365 also support the Dutch language?

Not yet. Initially, only the English language will be supported. Meanwhile, support in the Dutch language has been announced. No date has however been announced yet.

How do you turn off Copilot with Commercial data protection - formerly Bing Chat Enterprise - on your tenant?

Follow these two steps:

  1. Make sure you understand all licence groups where 'Microsoft 365 A3/A5 for faculty and students subscriptions' have been assigned.

    Note that it happens that users appear in different licence groups.
  2. In the relevant licence groups, set Commercial data protection for Microsoft Copilot to 'Off'.
Where else can I find information from SURF and SLM rijk about AI services?

AI in Education | SURF Communities 
Various activities and articles on this topic can be followed publicly.

Services | My SURFmarket (after login) 
Your institution can use the My SURFmarket portal to view all the products and services on offer. Here you can also indicate your wishes regarding new supply to be added in due course.

Turning off Copilot Bing | (slmmicrosoftrijk.nl)

Memo advising on using the (free) Microsoft Copilot service.