Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2019-01-28
Buyer: Department of Finance
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 48000000 | 48900000 | 72000000 | 72260000: Software-related services | 72263000: Software implementation services
Estimated value: 184000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2019-02-25
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: NISRA require Software Subscription and Support for the SPSS perpetual licences already purchased by NISRA. Where a Contractor can provide NISRA with access to licenced IBM SPSS products with subscription and support to replace the current portfolio held by NISRA, the products provided must be the same as those listed in the Specification.
The contract will have an option to extend (subject to the terms of the contract and the performance of the successful Economic Operator) for 12 months and a second option to extend for 12 months.
The scope of the specification is for the (broad) amalgamation of the 3 main current contracts within DOF NISRA into the formation of 1 new contract for DOF NISRA. The subscription and support for the third contract's licensed products must become coterminous with the annual subscription and support for the first 2 contracts licensed products from 1.2.2020.
The Tenderer must be an IBM authorised software partner or reseller of SPSS products and Software Support and Subscription.
The Contracting Authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender. Economic Operators remain responsible for all costs and expenses incurred by them or by any third party acting under instructions from the Economic Operator in connection with taking part in this procurement process, regardless of whether such costs arise as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of any amendments made to the procurement documents by the Contracting Authority at any time. No legally binding contract shall arise (and an Economic Operator shall have no legitimate expectation that a contract will be entered into) until such time as entry into the Contract has been confirmed by the Contracting Authority. Economic Operators should note that all dates, time periods and figures. in relation to values and volumes specified in this notice and the procurement documents are approximate only and the Contracting Authority reserves the right to change any or all of them. The pricing strategy applied and the setting of cost/profit margins are a commercial decision for economic operators when submitting a bid for this competition. In addition, neither CPD nor the Contracting Authority can provide any guarantee as to the level of business under this contract. The successful contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored. Contractors not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in CPD for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance and the contract may be terminated. The issue of a Notice of unsatisfactory Performance will result in the contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland. Procurement Policy for a period of twelve months from the date of issue of the Notice. This contract will not be awarded in Lots as a single supplier is required.
The Contracting Authority will comply with the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) and, where applicable, will incorporate a minimum 10 calendar day standstill period at the point information on the award of the contract is communicated to all Economic Operators.

Eligibility requirements: The Tenderer must be an IBM authorised software partner or reseller of SPSS products and Software Support and Subscription.

Award value: 184000