Public procurement notice: Modification Of A Contract/Concession During Its Term
Published: 2022-10-05
Buyer: Insolvency Service of Ireland
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 to 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 two years from 05.08.2019 to 04.08.2021. 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 two-year extension, totalling €430,000 Euro, with payments being made quarterly. Additional development work cost €46,000 Euro.
The contract was again modified in June 2021. In order to facilitate the conduct of a competition for a new case management system, ISI extended the duration of the contract from 05.08.2021 to 04.11.2022. The total additional cost of this further contract extension was €268,750 Euro.
ISI conducted a competition for the provision of a new bankruptcy case management system and associated services (Ref 2020/S 213-522073) and a contract has been awarded. That contract is currently being implemented, however, implementation has been delayed and the new system will not be operational before the contract for the current system expires on 04.11.2022. Therefore, there is a requirement for the contract for the current case management system to be extended in order to enable the continuation of critical case management services pending full implementation of the new case management system. This is necessary to enable ISI to carry out its statutory duties. The new case management system is expected to become operational on or before Q4 of 2023, at which point the contract for the current case management system will be terminated. The contract for the current case management system is to be extended for a maximum of 12 months from 05.11.2022 to 04.11.2023, with the option for ISI to terminate during that period on 7 days’ notice in writing. Additional licence and maintenance fees totalling €200,000 (ex VAT) will be paid in respect of  this extension period, however if the contract is terminated in advance of the expiry of the 12 month period a pro-rata reimbursement shall apply in respect of the unused part of the period.
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 implementing a new case management system to replace the current application suite. The implementation of the new case management system has been delayed and, as a consequence, the ISI needs to extend the duration of the contract it currently has in place with Uberbase until the implementation has been concluded (a maximum of 12 months). The modification extends the contract with Uberbase for up to an additional 12 months, from 05.11.2022, with the option for the ISI to terminate at any time during that period on 7 days’ notice in writing. There are additional licence and maintenance fees which total €200,000 (ex VAT) if the extension lasts for 12 months. . Payment will be made in advance.  . If the contract is terminated in advance of the expiry of the 12 month period a pro-rata reimbursement shall apply in respect of the unused part of the period.
ISI began a competition for the award of a new contract to replace the contract for the existing case management system in 2020 & awarded this new contract in 2022. ISI isn't able to complete implementation of the new case management system in time to coincide with the expiry of the existing contract in November 2022. For technical, economic & operational reasons, it's 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, given the existing complex integration & interoperability arrangements & the need for an appropriate transition period to allow a new system to be fully tested & implemented. ISI needs to extend the existing contract to allow time to complete the ongoing transition to a new system. ISI can't change contractor without significant inconvenience & disruption and without threatening the effective administration of bankruptcy cases.


Winner: Uberbase.com Inc