Public procurement notice: Modification Of A Contract/Concession During Its Term
Published: 2021-10-12
Buyer: Residential Tenancies Board (RTB)
Country: IE
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 72512000: Document management services | 75112000 | 79512000 | 79999100

Technical requirements: The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) has initiated a Project to outsource its requirements for data management and contact centre services. PRTB's aim is to provide an efficient, timely and customer centred services for 1) the processing of Registration and Dispute Applications, and payment of associated fees and 2) the interface with its customers to handle daily contact. The Project will require a number of services, divided into two lots as follows: Lot 1: Document Management Services and Lot 2: Contact Centre.
The contract was awarded for an initial period of three years (commencing 9 May 2013), with the option to extend for an additional two years. This option was exercised by the Contracting Authority. The value of the contract over the initial three-year period was EUR 2,803, 349 (excluding VAT). The value over the full five-year period was EUR 5 million (ex VAT).
The contract was extended on the same terms and conditions for twelve months from 9 May 2018 at an estimated value of EUR 1.8 million (ex VAT).
The contract was further extended for a period of eighteen months from 20 May 2019 to 9 November 2020 at an estimated value of EUR 3.5 million (ex VAT). A new right to terminate for both parties on giving three months' notice was introduced, and an annual increase of 2.5% to the charges payable, to cater for inflationary increases, was agreed.
In May 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, further changes to the contract were implemented. These included changes to the scope of the services, a reduction in the overall volume of services, a change to the primary place of performance of the services (to allow for home-working), a reduction in the number of staff working on the contract, reduced hours of operation, changes to the data processing agreement and changes to SLAs/KPIs. A new commercial model (moving from a transaction-based charging model to an FTE model) was also implemented.
The contract was extended again in November 2020 for a further twelve months (expiring 9 November 2021) at an estimated value of EUR 2 million (ex VAT).
The contract term indicated at II.2.7 (102 months) relates to the term of the contract to date, including all of the above extensions.
Please refer to Statutory Instrument 130 of 2010, the European Communities (Public Authorities' Contracts) (Review Procedures) Regulations 2010, and in particular Regulation 7.
In May 2013, the RTB entered into a contract with Southwestern Business Process Services Limited (now Capita Customer Solutions Limited) for the provision of document management and contact centre services. The contract is for a business-critical service and was awarded for an initial period of three years with one option, later exercised by the RTB, to extend for a further two years. The contract has since been further extended and modified on a number of occasions (as described at Section VI.3 of this notice) and is now due to expire in November 2021.
In 2020, the RTB advertised a single-party framework agreement relating to the provision of contact centre and document management services (Ref 2020/S 069-164518). The intention was that the initial call-off contract awarded under this framework agreement would replace the current contract with Capita.
The RTB is currently in the process of implementing a new tenancy management system, known as RTB360. This is an enterprise solution supporting all core business processes, information flows, reporting, and data analytics requirements of the RTB. The competition for the framework agreement was predicated on the assumption that RTB360 would be in place and fully operational at contract commencement.
Due to delays to the implementation of RTB360, the RTB was forced to abandon the competition in April 2021. The RTB intends to re-tender the services as soon as possible once all modules on RTB360 are fully operational. In the meantime, as the contract is for business-critical services, the RTB has no option but to extend the existing contract with Capita Customer Solutions Limited. The modification extends the contract for a further period of 12 months from 10 November 2021; certain other modifications to the contract have been made. These include minor changes to the payment provisions; a new right of termination for the RTB, and some changes to the services charges and FTE-based charging model first implemented in May 2020.  The value of the extension is estimated in the region of EUR 2.5 million (ex VAT). The figure of EUR 2.5 million set out at VII.1.6 is the estimated value of the extension commencing in November 2021. The value of the modifications does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract.
The term of the contract is being extended for an additional 12 months, from 10 November 2021 to 9 November 2022. Certain other modifications to the contract have been made. These include minor changes to the payment provisions; a new right of termination for the RTB, and some changes to the services charges and FTE-based charging model first implemented in May 2020.
RTB is currently in the process of implementing a new tenancy management system (RTB360). This major system will overhaul and support all RTB core business processes & functions going forward. Due to delays in implementing RTB360, RTB was forced to abandon a competition commenced in 2020 for contact centre & document management services (Ref 2020/S 069-164518), which was intended to replace its existing contract with Capita. RTB intends to re-tender these services as soon as possible once RTB360 is fully operational. In the meantime, as the existing Capita contract is for business-critical services, it is not possible to allow it to expire. The extension will allow RTB time to complete implementation of RTB360 & create the situation whereby RTB can tender a new contract. RTB cannot change contractor at this time without significant inconvenience & disruption to its business and without threatening its ability to continue to deliver its core business and meet its statutory obligations.


Winner: Southwestern Business Process Services Limited (now Capita Customer Solutions Limited)