Public procurement notice: Modification Of A Contract/Concession During Its Term
Published: 2023-06-27
Buyer: The Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Country: IE
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 72600000 | 72611000: Technical computer support services

Technical requirements: The provision of a fully managed eTendering platform to assist contracting authorities and economic operators engaging in electronic procurement.
The procurement process to establish a new contract for the provision of a fully managed eTendering platform for the Government of Ireland reached contract award stage in July 2022. The award of the new contract resulted in a change of service provider and necessitated implementation works to establish and transition to the new contractor’s service platform. The implementation works were commenced in August 2022, with the intention to conclude this process in advance of the expiration of the pre-existing contract with the incumbent on 21 May 2023.
As the implementation works progressed, it became apparent, due to the proprietary nature of data formats and service architecture of both the incumbent contractor’s and new contractor’s services and the associated intellectual property rights, that it would not be possible to establish a mechanism to transfer historical data from the incumbent’s service to the new service prior to the expiration of the pre-existing contract on 21 May 2023. This would mean a loss of access to historical data upon expiry of the pre-existing contract. In addition to historical competition data, due to technical reasons, data for active competitions (competitions that were still in the market), could not be transferred to the new service platform until they concluded or progressed on the incumbent’s service to a stage suitable for transfer. It was not feasible for relevant Contracting Authorities to progress active competitions to a stage suitable for transfer prior to the expiration of the contract with the incumbent as required.
It therefore became necessary, due to the technical reasons outlined above, to modify the pre-existing contract in order to facilitate a one year extension of that contract. This extension will allow the Contracting Authority to work with both the incumbent and new service provider to resolve these technical matters.
The OGP modified the pre-existing contract with the incumbent on 22 May 2023 by extending it for a term of 12 months, pursuant to the terms of Article 72(1)(b) of Directive 2014/24/EU.
The procurement process to establish a new contract for the provision of a fully managed eTendering platform for the Government of Ireland reached contract award stage in July 2022. The award of the new contract resulted in a change of service provider and necessitated implementation works to establish and transition to the new contractor’s service platform. The implementation works were commenced in August 2022, with the intention to conclude this process in advance of the expiration of the pre-existing contract with the incumbent on 21 May 2023.
As the implementation works progressed, it became apparent, due to the proprietary nature of data formats and service architecture of both the incumbent contractor’s and new contractor’s services and the associated intellectual property rights, that it would not be possible to establish a mechanism to transfer historical data from the incumbent’s service to the new service prior to the expiration of the pre-existing contract on 21 May 2023. This would mean a loss of access to historical data upon expiry of the pre-existing contract. In addition to historical competition data, due to technical reasons, data for active competitions (competitions that were still in the market), could not be transferred to the new service platform until they concluded or progressed on the incumbent’s service to a stage suitable for transfer. It was not feasible for relevant Contracting Authorities to progress active competitions to a stage suitable for transfer prior to the expiration of the contract with the incumbent as required.
It therefore became necessary, due to the technical reasons outlined above, to modify the pre-existing contract in order to facilitate a one year extension of that contract. This extension will allow the Contracting Authority to work with both the incumbent and new service provider to resolve these technical matters.
The OGP modified the pre-existing contract with the incumbent on 22 May 2023 by extending it for a term of 12 months, pursuant to the terms of Article 72(1)(b) of Directive 2014/24/EU.
Due to the technical reasons outlined above, to modify the pre-existing contract in order to facilitate a one year extension of that contract. This extension will allow the Contracting Authority to work with both the incumbent and new service provider to resolve these technical matters.  Please refer to VII.2.1 for further details.


Winner: EUS Holdings Ltd