Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2019-03-05
Buyer: Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 72000000 | 72200000 | 72300000 | 72310000: Data processing services | 72320000
Estimated value: 1000000 GBP
Award criteria: Lowest price

Technical requirements: Υπηρεσίες τεχνολογίας των πληροφοριών: παροχή συμβουλών, ανάπτυξη λογισμικού, Διαδίκτυο και υποστήριξη
The provision of support and development services for Ofsted legacy middleware services which provides the data interfaces between Ofsted’s business systems, databases and applications which enables communication and data management for distributed applications such as:
CGI has delivered ICT services for Ofsted since 1.4.2012 as part of the overall managed information systems contract. The overarching CGI contract was let for a 5-year term, with the option to extend for up to a maximum of 2 years taking the duration of the contract to 31.3.2019. Over the past 3 years the majority of services covered under this contract have been successfully re-procured, brought in house or cancelled in line with the Ofsted ICT programme objectives.
The remaining element of the service which is yet to be replaced is Middleware Support Services and for the reasons outlined in Annex D1 — general procurement and justification, Ofsted on technical grounds now wish to enter into a contract with CGI IT UK Ltd for the continuation of middleware support services from 1.4.2019 for a period of 12 months with the option to extend for up to a further 12 months.
CGI IT UK Ltd have provided Middleware Support Services to Ofsted over the last 7 years. Initially CGI provided bespoke applications for all Ofsted’s Inspection and Regulatory remits and in recent years these have been replaced, with the middleware services providing data interfaces between the new applications.
The current middleware set up is a complex service made up of old code, which has been heavily configured over the years by CGI and is not able to be maintained by Ofsted. Should any of the existing systems fail, this would become catastrophic to the operation of multiple key internal and external facing services — critical to the delivery of Ofsted’s core business.
Due to the technical complexity of the current middleware configuration the justification for the continuation of services with the incumbent supplier is due to technical reasons where the incumbent supplier’s key staff would only have the technical knowledge and expertise to support the current set up for Ofsted. The existing supplier has a detailed knowledge of how these critical, yet end of life systems are kept operational and the interfaces with all other systems.
The contract will enable Ofsted to have sufficient time to reduce the reliance on these legacy applications and CGI IT UK Ltd over time and replace with new improved ways of working and a modernized middleware environment.
Ofsted’s publication of this VEAT notice (“Voluntary ex ante transparency notice”) is in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to inform the market of our intention and justification of our decision to award a contract directly to the incumbent using the Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication. Ofsted therefore intend to award a contract to CGI UK Ltd for the period of 12 months with the option to extend for up to a further 12 months commencing 1.4.2019.
Following the publication of the VEAT notice on 28.2.2019, there will be a 10-day standstill period, concluding on 11.3.2019. Following satisfactory conclusion of the standstill period, we will enter into the contract with CGI IT UK Ltd from 1.4.2019 for a period of 12 months with the option to extend for up to a further 12 months.


Winner: CGI IT UK LTD
Award value: 1000000