Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2021-10-01
Buyer: Department of Finance Northern Ireland
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 48000000 | 72000000
Estimated value: 1163423 GBP
EU fund: EU Fund

Technical requirements: Υπηρεσίες τεχνολογίας των πληροφοριών: παροχή συμβουλών, ανάπτυξη λογισμικού, Διαδίκτυο και υποστήριξη
It is necessary to take up the extension option for a 4 year period from the end of 2021 since functionality of the Database will be required until closure of the ESIF Funding period at the end of 2025. The existing contractor has designed and developed this bespoke Database, it would not be practical or cost effective to engage a different supplier for further enhancements and system support up to the end of the contract period. To do so would result in the requirement to re-train all existing users, have the system re-designated by the Audit Authorities and have the system accredited again to ISO27001 security standard – an accreditation the current system has until 2023.
This contract is for the development and maintenance of a European structural investment Funds Database for the EU Division. This contract has an initial end date of 31.12.2021 with the option to extend for 2 optional 2 year periods.  It is necessary to take up the extension option for a 4 year period from the end of 2021 since functionality of the Database will be required until closure of the ESIF Funding period at the end of 2025. The existing contractor has designed and developed this bespoke Database, it would not be practical or cost effective to engage a different supplier for further enhancements and system support up to the end of the contract period. To do so would result in the requirement to re-train all existing users, have the system re-designated by the Audit Authorities and have the system accredited again to ISO27001 security standard – an accreditation the current system has until 2023.
The value of this contract and proposed modification (at £1,163,423) is above the EU threshold therefore the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) apply.
The current contract (DAC 150/16) was put in place for an initial period of 5 years with two optional extension periods of 2 years each due to unforeseen events.
Two public tender competitions had failed to deliver a multi-function database for use by Department for the Economy, Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and the Special European Union Programmes Body as required by European Commission Regulations to comply with e-cohesion principles and enable the drawdown of €1 bn+ EU funding to Northern Ireland during the 2014 – 2020 round of European Structural and Investment Funds.
The contractor appointed following the most recent open competition was unable to deliver the requirements specified in the tender SOR resulting in the contract being terminated on 13th June 2016 due to default.
This created an urgent requirement to have a functioning database in place by the end of 2016 to meet Commission requirements.  As the scheme continues after the initial 5 year period CPD held a number of discussions with EUD on requirements going forward following exit from EU.
The scheme will close in 4 years’ time and EUD have negotiated with the contractor (RMA now under Fluent Technology) to aggregate the extension periods into one 4 year deal to provide best vfm. This included social value considerations which were incorporated into the original contract.  In addition to support and maintenance costs, these costs include a software refresh which is necessary to continue to meet current security standards and archiving of the data at the end of the contract.
The Regulations permit the modification of a contract where the changes proposed meet one or more of the prescribed tests as set out in Regulation 72. Having considered the information provided there would appear to be convincing reasons to modify this contract in accordance with Regulation 72(1)(b); that is additional services “have become necessary” and were not included in the initial procurement and a change of supplier would not be practicable for economic or technical and would involve substantial inconvenience/duplication of costs - provided the change does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract.


Winner: RMA SYSTEMS And SERVICES LTD
Award value: 1163423