Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2020-08-03
Buyer: National Transport Authority
Country: IE
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 30144200 | 32573000 | 34980000 | 64212000 | 72416000: Application service providers
Estimated value: 5500000 EUR
EU fund: ESF

Technical requirements: The Near Field Communications System enhances the Leap Card customer experience. This service enables Smart Phones to read Leap Cards, enable Smart Phone users to purchase top-ups and tickets and then apply the resultant ticket or top-up value onto the smart card via the Near Field Communication functionality on the Smart Phone.
The contract is for a period of 3 years, with the option to extend annually up to a maximum total of 5 years.
The total value of the procurement stated in II.1.7) is EUR 5.5 million. The expected contract value over the course of the contract including all possible extensions is expected to be within the range EUR 3 million to EUR 5.5 million.
The authority intend to award the contract entitled ‘Agreement for the Provision of Near Field Communications System’ to Vix Technologies Ltd, with Snapper Services Ltd as a subcontractor for a period of 3 years, with the option to extend annually up to a maximum total of 5 years.
The authority requires ongoing maintenance, support and development of the existing Near Field Communications system supplied since 2014 by Vix Technologies Ltd. The scope of the Near Field Communications contract covers development of mobile apps, the development and provision of back-end systems, integration with the Leap Card system, integration with NTA’s payment gateway provider, integration with NTA’s mobile analytics provider, reporting, and ongoing support and maintenance for the overall solution.
The authority requires a continued delivery of Near Field Communication services to enable Leap Card customers install and use a mobile phone app to check and top-up their Leap Card balance. Continuation of the current services requires a highly-specialised combination of skills encompassing:
Due to the combination skillset required, continuation and further development of the current system could not be provided by another provider without considerable input, training, handover and support services from Vix Technologies Ltd. NTA could not oblige Vix Technologies Ltd to supply these services, as this is not provided for in the contract.
The services envisaged by this notice are intended as an interim solution, as the Authority is separately progressing a procurement for Next Generation Ticketing, which ticketing approach will ultimately render the Near Field Communication-based ticketing obsolete.
Service provision by the original supplier under the strict conditions stated in Regulation 32 – Use of negotiated procedure without prior publication in the 2016 Public Authority Contracts Regulations.
The current contract for the provision of the Near Field Communications system is comprised of elements that are proprietary to Vix Technologies Ltd integrated with elements that are bespoke to, and owned by, NTA. Vix Technologies Ltd specifically designed and implemented the system, including a back-end processing system, integrated with NTA’s bespoke Leap card format, card data structures, transaction format and data encryption algorithm. Vix Technologies Ltd has also maintained the system throughout the entire term of the contract. As Vix Technologies Ltd has designed and maintained the system, and owns a substantial portion of its intellectual property, only they have the necessary expertise and ability to continue to provide the services, including the current and the additional services, that will be required under the new Direct Award contract.
A procurement process to appoint a supplier other than Vix Technologies Ltd would require commissioning of a new system and result in both significant inconvenience to the authority, potential disruption to Leap Card customers, as well as a substantial duplication of costs to replicate previously achieved Leap and third party supplier integrations.
Snapper Services Ltd will undertake the majority of the development work associated with these services. Vix Technology Ltd will manage the AWS backend admin and will provide support in respect of these services.
As set out in S.I. No 130/2010 European Communities (Public Authorities’ Contracts) (Review Procedures) Regulations 2010 (in particular Regulation 7 thereof).


Winner: Vix Technology Ltd
Award value: 5500000