Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2018-06-19
Buyer: The Information Commissioner's Office
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 72000000 | 72200000 | 72260000: Software-related services | 72261000: Software support services | 72267000: Software maintenance and repair services
Estimated value: 250000 GBP

Technical requirements: The contract is for the provision of: (i) maintenance services for case management software solution ("CMEH"); (ii) third line and fourth line support in respect of CMEH; and (iii) administration and management of third party software licences needed for CMEH ("the Contract"). The Contract is an interim requirement for the ICO as it transitions from CMEH to an in-house solution. The Contract is expected to last for 8 months, which is when Meridio (a key software component of CMEH) reaches end of life.
The procurement of the Contract is to ensure the provision of support services for the ICO's legacy software solution, CMEH. For the reasons outlined in Section IV.1.1) below, the ICO is using the negotiated procedure without prior publication to award the Contract to Kainos Software Limited ("Kainos").
The ICO procured the design, build and development of CMEH approximately 11 years ago, through which Kainos was appointed to deliver CMEH. Since then, Kainos has enhanced and supported CMEH over the past 11 years.
The ICO has a managed services contract with Northgate Public Services (UK) Limited (the "Northgate Contract"), under which Kainos provides support services in respect of CMEH as a sub-contractor. However, the Northgate Contract will expire in July 2018. The Contract covers the scope of services currently provided by Kainos under the Northgate Contract (as sub-contractor).
The ICO is transitioning from CMEH to an in-house solution and the Contract is an interim requirement to cover the continued use of CMEH during the period until the ICO has migrated all users to its replacement in-house solution.
CMEH is a bespoke software solution. By virtue of having developed and supported CMEH over the past 11 years, Kainos has in-depth knowledge of CMEH and can provide the services envisaged by the Contract. Further, CMEH is comprised of a number of software elements and Kainos owns the intellectual property rights in the core software elements of CMEH.
In addition to the core elements of CMEH, the intellectual property rights in which vest in Kainos, CMEH comprises third party software called Meridio. Having provided support over the past 11 years, Kainos has invaluable specialist knowledge of the interaction between CMEH and Meridio, which is a key requirement for the provision of the services under the Contract. Meridio will become end of life in 8 months and the Contract will also expire at that time.
CMEH is a complete solution and for that reason, the ICO requires a single supplier to provide the services envisaged by the Contract. Consequently the ICO is awarding the Contract to Kainos without prior publication because competition is absent for technical reasons, as explained above.


Winner: Kainos Software Limited
Award value: 250000