Public procurement notice: Modification Of A Contract/Concession During Its Term
Published: 2021-07-02
Buyer: Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI)
Country: IE
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 48311000 | 48311100 | 48810000: Information systems | 48812000: Financial information systems | 72222300: Information technology services

Technical requirements: This public procurement competition related to the purchase of an integrated application suite to be used for the management and execution of tasks required in the daily running and management of bankruptcy cases. In addition to the purchase of the base software package the contracting authority requested tenderers include 5 years case management, licensing, support and maintenance costs as part of their tender responses. From the outset there was a requirement for a user base of 35 to meet the immediate business needs of the office of the official assignee in bankruptcy.
The contract was modified in 2019. The modification extended the term of the contract for an additional 2 years from 5 August 2019 to 4 August 2021. The term of 60 months referred to at II.2.7 ) refers to the term of the contract before the contract extension in 2019. The 2019 modification also involved the payment of additional licence and maintenance fees for the 2-year extension, totalling EUR 430 000, with payments being made quarterly. Additional development work cost EUR 46 000.
The ISI is currently in the process of conducting an EU-compliant procurement process to procure a new contract for a bankruptcy case management system and associated services (ref: 2020/S 213-522073). The procurement process has been delayed and, as a consequence, the ISI needs to extend the contract it currently has in place with Uberbase.com Inc until the competition has been concluded, a new contract has been awarded and any necessary transition to the new contract has occurred. The application suite provided under the current contract with Uberbase is a business-critical system enabling the ISI to carry out its statutory duties. The existing contract was extended in 2019 and is due to expire in August 2021. A modification notice was published by the ISI in 2019 advising the market of the modifications (ref: 2019/S 124-303894). This further modification extends the term of the contract with Uberbase.com Inc for a period of up to 15 months, from 5 August 2021, to allow time for the ISI to complete the ongoing competition. The ISI can terminate the extended contract by giving Uberbase 3 months' notice in writing. There are additional licence and maintenance fees which total EUR 268 750 (ex VAT) for the full 15-month extension and which are payable quarterly in advance. The figure at VII.1.5) below (15 months) relates to the maximum term of the extension. The figure at VII.1.6) below relates to the value of the extension (ex VAT) over the full 15 months.
The application suite provided under the current contract with Uberbase.com Inc is a business critical system enabling the ISI to carry out its statutory functions. The ISI's Bankruptcy Division has developed its operations to be supported by and closely integrated with the functionality of the current suite; its business is currently highly dependent upon the suite’s stable and effective operation which enables bankruptcy cases to be processed in a timely and efficient manner. The ISI is currently in the process of conducting an EU-compliant procurement process to procure a new contract for a bankruptcy case management system and associated services. The procurement process has been delayed and, as a consequence, the ISI needs to extend the contract it currently has in place with Uberbase until the competition has been concluded, a new contract has been awarded and any necessary transition to the new contract has occurred. Certain modifications are also made to the data protection provisions of the existing contract to ensure compliance with current data protection law. Until a new contract is procured, ISI will need to be able to ensure that bankruptcy cases continue to be processed in a timely and efficient manner and that it is in a position to fulfil its statutory obligations. The modification extends the contract with Uberbase.com Inc for up to an additional 15 months, from 5 August 2021, with the option for the ISI to terminate on giving the contractor 3 months' notice in writing. There are additional licence and maintenance fees which total EUR 268 750 (ex VAT) for the full 15-month extension. Payments will be made quarterly in advance.
ISI began a competition for the award of a new contract to replace the existing contract in 2020. Due to delay, ISI is not in a position to complete the competition for the new contract in time to coincide with the expiry of the existing contract in August 2021. For technical, economic and operational reasons, it is not possible for the existing contract to expire without its immediate replacement by an equivalent system; nor is it economically or technically possible for a new contractor to be appointed upon expiry, given the existing complex integration and interoperability arrangements and the need for an appropriate transition period to allow a new system to be fully tested and implemented. ISI needs to extend the existing contract to allow time to complete the ongoing competition and transition to a new system. ISI cannot change contractor at this time without significant inconvenience and disruption to its business and without threatening the effective administration of bankruptcy cases.


Winner: Uberbase.com Inc