Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2024-02-19
Buyer: Dublin City Council
Country: IE
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 48217000 | 50312600 | 50323100 | 50324100 | 50324200

Technical requirements: Dublin City Council gives notice to invoke Article 32.2 (b) for a derogation from tendering where the works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator.

Dublin City Council intend to award a contract to Access Paysuite Limited for 3 years with the option to extend for one further year at a value of €850,000 + VAT for the provision, support and maintenance of software and hardware for a cloud based Income Management System and for any new products purchased during the timeframe of the contract. This will involve migrating DCC’s ‘on premise’ Income Management System to Access Paysuite Limited sCloud environment during this year.

Access Paysuite Ltd. currently provides Dublin City Council with an Income Management Solution specifically customised to meet its requirements and is also embedded into its Financial Management Systems.  Competition is absent for both technical reasons and for the protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights. 
The functionality of the system includes the following:
- A versatile cash receipting system
- A comprehensive on-line receipting facility
- A fully managed card solution for ‘Chip and Pin’ and ‘Customer not Present’ transactions
- The ability to accept ‘contactless’ payments
- A Call Centre solution
- A multi-lingual facility
- The ability to produce bespoke reports
- Integration with Dublin City Council’s FMS and Debtors Systems
- Import of balance files from debtors systems and from third party files on a daily basis
- Export of receipting files to the debtors systems on a daily basis
- Compatibility with Dublin City Council’s I.T. infrastructure
- Compatibility with printers chosen by Dublin City Council
- Compatibility with the merchant acquirer used by Dublin City Council
- Strong project management and helpdesk support
- Fully PCI/DSS and GDPR compliant.

Because Access Paysuite Ltd. is the only supplier capable of providing, supporting and maintaining these existing functionalities and any future functionalities, Dublin City Council gives notice to lawfully invoke Article 32.2(b) of Directive 2014/24/EU (as detailed below) for a derogation from tendering for the provision, support and maintenance of software and hardware for a cloud based Income Management System and for any new products supplied by Access Paysuite Ltd. during the timeframe of the contract.

Article 32.2(b) 
2. The negotiated procedure without prior publication may be used for public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts in any of the following cases:
(b) where the works, supplies or services can be supplied only by a particular economic operator for any of the following reasons:
(i) the aim of the procurement is the creation or acquisition of a unique work of art or artistic performance;
(ii) competition is absent for technical reasons;
(iii) the protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights;
The exceptions set out in points (ii) and (iii) shall only apply when no reasonable alternative or substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement;
As set out in SI No. 130/2010 - European Communities (Public Authorities' Contracts) (Review Procedures) Regulations 2010.
Dublin City Council gives notice to invoke Article 32.2 (b) where the works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for a derogation from tendering. Dublin City Council intend to award a contract to Access Paysuite Ltd. for 3 years with the option to extend for one further year at a value of €850,000 + VAT for the provision, support and maintenance of software and hardware for a cloud based Income Management System and for any new products purchased during the timeframe of the contract. This will involve migrating DCC’s ‘on premise’ Income Management System to Access Paysuite Ltd. sCloud environment during this year.


Winner: Dublin City Council