Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2025-07-04
Buyer: National Transport Authority_1149
Country: IE
Region: IE061
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 30144200 | 32573000 | 34980000 | 64212000 | 72416000: Application service providers
Estimated value: 9231377 EUR

Technical requirements: The Authority has awarded the contract entitled “Provision of Near Field Communications System” to Vix Technologies UK Ltd, with Snapper Services Ltd as a subcontractor for a period of four years.
The Authority requires ongoing maintenance, support and development of the existing Near Field Communications system supplied since 2014 by Vix Technologies UK 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 to 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:
•	mobile app development, with Near Field Communications expertise,
•	Amazon Web Services development and support,
•	Smart card ticketing including MIFARE DESFire commands,
•	Leap-specific encryption, which is necessary in order to maintain the required
•	interoperability of the System with the existing Leap environment.
 
The services envisaged by this notice are intended as an interim solution, as the Authority has separately concluded a contract 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 UK Ltd integrated with elements that are bespoke to, and owned by, NTA. Vix Technologies UK 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 UK 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 UK 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
The Authority has awarded the contract entitled “Provision of Near Field Communications System” to Vix Technologies UK Ltd, with Snapper Services Ltd as a subcontractor for a period of four years.
The Authority requires ongoing maintenance, support and development of the existing Near Field Communications system supplied since 2014 by Vix Technologies UK 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 to 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:
•	mobile app development, with Near Field Communications expertise,
•	Amazon Web Services development and support,
•	Smart card ticketing including MIFARE DESFire commands,
•	Leap-specific encryption, which is necessary in order to maintain the required
•	interoperability of the System with the existing Leap environment.
 
The services envisaged by this notice are intended as an interim solution, as the Authority has separately concluded a contract for Next Generation Ticketing, which ticketing approach will ultimately render the Near Field Communication-based ticketing obsolete.
As set out in S.I. No. 130/2010 European Communities (Public Authorities’ Contracts)(Review Procedures) Regulations 2010 (in particular Regulation 7 thereof).
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.


Winner: National Transport Authority_1149
Award value: 9231377
Number of bids: 1