Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
BRITISH BUSINESS BANK PLC
Steel City House, 2 West Street City Centre
SHEFFIELD
S12GQ
Procurement@british-business-bank.co.uk
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKE32 - Sheffield
Companies House
08616013
Internet address(es)
Main address
www.british-business-bank.co.uk
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
Economic and financial affairs
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Investment Management System ("IMS")
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Authority's intention is to award an investment management system ("IMS") contract ("Contract") to BlackRock, relying on the exemption in Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication, on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons.
The IMS will allow the Authority to manage the full investment administration cycle of its debt and equity portfolio ("Portfolio"). The Contract covers implementation, migration support, professional services, licensing, and maintenance.
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value excluding VAT: £890,000
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Authority's intention is to award an investment management system ("IMS") contract ("Contract") to BlackRock, relying on the exemption in Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication, on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons.
The IMS will allow the Authority to manage the full investment administration cycle of its debt and equity portfolio ("Portfolio"). The Contract covers implementation, migration support, professional services, licensing, and maintenance.
The Authority considers that the Contract can be supplied only by BlackRock through its eFront Invest solution as BlackRock is uniquely able to provide certain mandatory requirements of the Authority's specification.
The Authority reached that conclusion after the following due diligence process:
• Engagement of an external consultancy with expertise in this area to prepare a market analysis of options available against the Authority's service requirements and technical specification
• An "RFI" was undertaken with a shortlist of suppliers identified by the external consultancy ("Suppliers") to understand the technical capability and compatibility of the systems with the Authority's mandatory requirements and the unique breadth of its Portfolio both in its current and future state
• An options report was prepared by the external consultancy which identified eFront Invest as the only solution able to meet the Authority's mandatory requirements, specifically in relation to fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio
• The Authority's business architect completed a comparative analysis of the Suppliers' sample offerings. This analysis concluded that the eFront Invest offers a solution that can support the Portfolio, and that it has inbuilt functionality to support fee and waterfall modelling, flagging that these are mandatory requirements
This due diligence established that alternative suppliers could not meet the Authority's mandatory requirements. Specifically, BlackRock is uniquely able to provide fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration, and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio.
Moreover, the only available alternatives to eFront Invest would incur unacceptable operational and accuracy risks including:
• incurring operational and data accuracy risks due to managing multiple software solutions and using manual data entry input
• A disaggregated solution increasing the risk of error
• Inability to deliver on reporting and wider obligations to UK Government
• The incompatibility of the alternative solutions to the Authority's underlying infrastructure could impact the traceability and transparency levels required to meet audit and reporting requirements which could also incur reputational risk
• The lack of a full-service solution across all current and future requirements would create the need to maintain and potentially increase manual steps and End User Computing Solutions outside operational risk tolerance
The Authority is confident that for the outlined reasons no reasonable alternative or substitute exists to eFront Invest. The Authority is also confident that its specification is reasonable and has not been artificially narrowed or constructed in such a way that only eFront Invest would be able to meet its requirements.
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the cases listed below
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the regulations
Explanation:
The Authority's intention is to award an investment management system ("IMS") contract ("Contract") to BlackRock, relying on the exemption in Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication, on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons.
The IMS will allow the Authority to manage the full investment administration cycle of its debt and equity portfolio ("Portfolio"). The Contract covers implementation, migration support, professional services, licensing, and maintenance.
The Authority considers that the Contract can be supplied only by BlackRock through its eFront Invest solution as BlackRock is uniquely able to provide certain mandatory requirements of the Authority's specification.
The Authority reached that conclusion after the following due diligence process:
• Engagement of an external consultancy with expertise in this area to prepare a market analysis of options available against the Authority's service requirements and technical specification
• An "RFI" was undertaken with a shortlist of suppliers identified by the external consultancy ("Suppliers") to understand the technical capability and compatibility of the systems with the Authority's mandatory requirements and the unique breadth of its Portfolio both in its current and future state
• An options report was prepared by the external consultancy which identified eFront Invest as the only solution able to meet the Authority's mandatory requirements, specifically in relation to fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio
• The Authority's business architect completed a comparative analysis of the Suppliers' sample offerings. This analysis concluded that the eFront Invest offers a solution that can support the Portfolio, and that it has inbuilt functionality to support fee and waterfall modelling, flagging that these are mandatory requirements
This due diligence established that alternative suppliers could not meet the Authority's mandatory requirements. Specifically, BlackRock is uniquely able to provide fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration, and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio.
Moreover, the only available alternatives to eFront Invest would incur unacceptable operational and accuracy risks including:
• incurring operational and data accuracy risks due to managing multiple software solutions and using manual data entry input
• A disaggregated solution increasing the risk of error
• Inability to deliver on reporting and wider obligations to UK Government
• The incompatibility of the alternative solutions to the Authority's underlying infrastructure could impact the traceability and transparency levels required to meet audit and reporting requirements which could also incur reputational risk
• The lack of a full-service solution across all current and future requirements would create the need to maintain and potentially increase manual steps and End User Computing Solutions outside operational risk tolerance
The Authority is confident that for the outlined reasons no reasonable alternative or substitute exists to eFront Invest. The Authority is also confident that its specification is reasonable and has not been artificially narrowed or constructed in such a way that only eFront Invest would be able to meet its requirements.
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No
Section five. Award of contract/concession
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
17 March 2023
five.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
eFront Limited
London
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
Companies House
03650489
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
Yes
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £890,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
Please note any dates provided in connection with the contract term are anticipated only.
If any provider has any questions in relation to the commissioning intentions that are outlined within this VEAT notice, please raise this via procurement@british-business-bank.co.uk.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
High Court of Justice
London
Country
United Kingdom