Scope
Reference
EG25001
Description
Energia Group is seeking to procure Merchant Payment services (Merchant Services), for the processing of customer card payments within both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.
Energia wishes to offer their customers an efficient payment processing experience using a streamlined uninterrupted process for making card payments. Energia currently operates a payment service process, using their own Payment Service Provider, which involves the transfer of funds paid by their customers via debit and credit bank cards, to a third-party processing platform owned by the Supplier.
The Supplier must be able to facilitate the transaction process by attaining and receipting information from the customer, receive authorisation from the bank approving the funds transaction, collecting the funds from the bank and then transferring the payment to Energia.
The Supplier will be required to ensure that the transaction funds are approved by the customer's bank and acceptance of the combined settlement of card funding transactions (authorisation process).
As a minimum, Energia will require the suppliers processing platform to transfer debit and credit cards from Visa, Mastercard and Electron. All platforms must be Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/ (settlement process).
Energia requires a platform that will accommodate their customers choice of payment card options and differing currencies. The platform must be available to process payments made by customers 24x7x365.
Energia also require an online portal for the receipt of daily transaction information and reconciliation reports.
For ongoing management information, Energia will require the Supplier to be able to populate management information containing monthly and quarterly performance metrics, scheme updates, compliance updates, new / upcoming solutions and changes within the industry.
The provision of Merchant Payment Services is expected to commence in September 2025, although the Supplier will be expected to work with Energia Group to facilitate the implementation of the Merchant Payment Service prior to commencement.
Total value (estimated)
- £6,500,000 excluding VAT
- £7,800,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2028
- Possible extension to 31 August 2030
- 5 years
Description of possible extension:
The contract awarded will be provided for an initial period of three years, with two optional extensions for periods of up to twelve months each, to be exercised at Energia Group's discretion. The maximum total duration of the service provision is five years.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 66170000 - Financial consultancy, financial transaction processing and clearing-house services
Contract locations
- UKN - Northern Ireland
Submission
Enquiry deadline
21 March 2025, 12:00pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
4 April 2025, 12:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
https://procurement.energiagroup.com
In order to get you set up on the portal, if you wish to respond can you please provide the following information:
Applicant Company Name:
Applicant Address:
Primary Contact Name:
Primary Contact Email Address:
Primary Contact Telephone Number:
Secondary Contact Name:
Secondary Contact Email Address:
Secondary Contact Telephone Number:
As per the CoP pack please use MerchantServicesProcurement@energiagroup.com email address for all further correspondence.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Suppliers to be invited to tender
1 to 5 suppliers
Selection criteria:
The contract(s) will be awarded to the bidder(s) that submit to Energia Group the most advantageous tender(s) (MAT). A maximum of 100 marks will be available in the scoring of submissions. The award criteria and associated weightings which will be used to determine this are as follows:No Evaluation Criteria Weighting1 Technical (Quality) 40%2 Financial 50%3 Legal (Quality) 10%Total Weighting 100%
Award decision date (estimated)
14 August 2025
Recurring procurement
Publication date of next tender notice (estimated): 14 March 2028
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial | Financial 50% |
Cost | 50% |
| Technical | Technical (Quality) 40% |
Quality | 40% |
| Legal | Legal (Quality) 10% |
Quality | 10% |
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Special regime
Utilities
Competitive flexible procedure description
It is envisaged, the CFP will be conducted in the following stages. Please note, stages are subject to change. Stages outlined below may not be availed of even though they were intended to be at the COP stage. This will be at Energia's discretion.
STAGE 1 - COMPLETENESS / COMPLIANCE CHECK
Responses will be subjected to a check to ensure that the Supplier has provided a complete and compliant response to all questions and requirements requested. Failure to submit a complete/compliant response may result in the Supplier being excluded from the process.
STAGE 2 - CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION
Those Suppliers that submit a complete and compliant response, will have their response assessed against the criteria stated in Annex 3 - COP Assessment and Supplier Response. The Supplier must commit in their response that they are able to meet the criteria.
Energia will use Stage 2 to confirm that neither the Supplier, nor any related persons within its corporate group, associate persons relied on to meet the COP or sub-contractors are listed on the Cabinet Office debarment list. If any such entities are on the debarment list, Energia will consider its obligations under the Act.
Energia will notify Suppliers in writing of whether or not they have been successfully shortlisted to participate in stage 3.
STAGE 3 - INVITATION TO SUBMIT INITIAL TENDERS SUBMISSIONS
Shortlisted Suppliers will receive an invitation to tender from Energia requesting them to submit an initial tender response. The initial tender response will be assessed for the purpose to reduce the number of Suppliers invited to participate in dialogue/negotiation and/or inform the content/agenda for dialogue/negotiations.
This stage will include
1. repeating the process outlined in Stage 2 to comply with the Act debarment list obligations.
2. Key Contractual Requirements documents will be issued. Energia expect these as a minimum to be embedded into the Suppliers T&C'S.
3. an assessment of the initial tenders against the criteria outlined in Annex 3 - COP Assessment and Supplier Response.
4. following assessment of the initial tenders, Suppliers will be selected to participate in the negotiation/dialogue stage as set out below in stage 4.
5. once the assessment is concluded, Suppliers will be notified in whether they have been invited to participate in Stage 4. Energia intends to shortlist a maximum of 5 Suppliers to participate in the dialogue/negotiation stand.
Energia reserve the right to award the contract to the preferred supplier based on the assessment of their initial tender without undertaking any negotiation or dialogue which may have been intended to be part of the process at the start of the CFP.
STAGE 4 - INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN DIALOGUE/ TO NEGOTIATE
Shortlisted Suppliers will receive an invitation from Energia to participate in dialogue/negotiate meetings. This invitation will describe how the dialogue/negotiation will be conducted, including the location and proposed dates for the relevant meetings.
This stage will include
1. Providing any new information made available to Suppliers.
2. conclusion around the closure of the dialogue and/or negotiations.
Energia reserves the right to amend/refine the tender award (technical/quality/pricing schedule) criteria throughout the procurement process.
The contract(s) will be awarded to the bidder(s) that submit to Energia Group the most advantageous tender(s) (MAT). A maximum of 100 marks will be available in the scoring of submissions. The award criteria and associated weightings which will be used to determine this are as follows:
No Evaluation Criteria Weighting
1 Technical (Quality) 40%
2 Financial 50%
3 Legal (Quality) 10%
Total Weighting 100%
Energia reserves the right to amend/refine the above existing tender criteria or criteria weightings, add or amend sub criteria and/or add detail to the existing criteria throughout the procurement process.
Documents
Documents to be provided after the tender notice
https://procurement.energiagroup.com
In order to get you set up on the portal, if you wish to respond can you please provide the following information:
Applicant Company Name:
Applicant Address:
Primary Contact Name:
Primary Contact Email Address:
Primary Contact Telephone Number:
Secondary Contact Name:
Secondary Contact Email Address:
Secondary Contact Telephone Number:
As per the CoP pack please use MerchantServicesProcurement@energiagroup.com email address for all further correspondence.
Contracting authority
ENERGIA GROUP NI HOLDINGS LIMITED
- Companies House: NI033250
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PDPH-4346-JGHQ
Greenwood House, 64 Newforge Lane
Belfast
BT9 5NF
United Kingdom
Email: procurement@energiagroup.com
Website: https://www.energiagroup.com/
Region: UKN06 - Belfast
Organisation type: Private utility
Devolved regulations that apply: Northern Ireland