Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2020-06-19
Buyer: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Country: IE
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 48900000 | 72600000 | 72611000: Technical computer support services
Estimated value: 1264166 EUR
Award criteria: Lowest price

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 had been initiated with the publication of a prior information notice in February 2018 pending the expiration of the then current contract with the incumbent on 21 May 2020.
To understand the capacity and capabilities of the market, two market sounding exercises were initiated in September 2018 and December 2019.
Information garnered from the market sounding exercises was used to develop the tender for the eTendering platform.
As the tender would not be ready to issue to market by the expiry of the current service provider contract the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), in line with Article 72 of Directive 2014/24/EU, intended to modify that contract for an additional period to ensure continuity of service while the procurement process was ongoing for the following reasons:
• if a new provider were selected following the completion of the competition, a managed transition period would be necessary to transfer services from the incumbent to the new provider’s platform on a phased basis to allow for on-boarding and training of contracting authorities and economic operators;
• a parallel running of both platforms would be required for a period to avoid inconvenience and costs for economic operators engaged in active procurement competitions on the incumbent’s platform;
• given the transitional arrangements which would be required in the event of the selection of a new service provider at the end of the competition, it would be both uneconomic and inconvenient for the Irish Government to be required to carry out an additional procurement competition to select an interim services provider.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which took hold in Ireland in March 2020, has compounded these reasons by severely impacting the OGP and its ability to progress this competition and has had an unforeseen impact on the timelines of the project to procure and implement a new contract. Key public procurement stakeholders from across the public sector are dealing with the Covid-19 emergency and are unable to commit resources to the project for some considerable time.
The OGP needed to re-prioritise and take extraordinary measures to tackle the crisis and could not have known in planning for the eTenders procurement that this crisis would develop, nor the extent of its impact. The current national eTendering platform is the key interface for the public sector and business and is critical for public procurement in Ireland.
The crisis has increased the extent of digitalisation and remote working for Government and this must now be factored in to providing a platform that allows Government procure the goods, services and works necessary to provide essential services. There will be an increased focus on getting businesses back to work and to ensure that SMEs in Ireland have continued access to procurement opportunities in what will be a period of economic decline and uncertainty following the Covid-19 pandemic.
In these circumstances brought about by events unforeseen by OGP, there was an extreme urgency since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020 for the OGP to conclude an agreement with the incumbent prior to the expiration of the then existing contract which would be sufficient to meet anticipated need pending the completion of a new tender competition.
A modification of the then existing contract pursuant to Article 72 (1)(b) of Directive 2014/24/EU as originally envisaged was limited to a one year extension which would not have been sufficient so the OGP concluded a new 2 year contract with the incumbent on 19 May 2020 which is justified under the terms of Article 32 (2)(c) of Directive 2014/24/EU.


Winner: EUS Holdings Ltd
Award value: 1264166
Number of bids: 1