Award

Managed Financial Services

  • Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office

F15: Voluntary ex ante transparency notice

Notice identifier: 2024/S 000-015175

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-045934

Published 13 May 2024, 4:01pm



Section one: Contracting authority/entity

one.1) Name and addresses

Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office

King Charles Street

London

SW1A 2AH

Email

ict.commercial@fcdo.gov.uk

Telephone

+44 2070080932

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UK - United Kingdom

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office

one.4) Type of the contracting authority

Ministry or any other national or federal authority

one.5) Main activity

General public services


Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

Managed Financial Services

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 66170000 - Financial consultancy, financial transaction processing and clearing-house services

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

This is a voluntary ex ante transparency (VEAT) notice. This notice is to indicate the Authority intends to contract with named supplier for the provision of managed financial services.

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: £4,015,460

two.2) Description

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UK - United Kingdom

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

The Authority is currently in a system stabilisation period having transitioned to a new Enterprise

Resource Planning (ERP) system from two legacy ERPs associated with the legacy xFCO and xDfID.

Current scope of services are;

Reconciling approx. 14,000 invoices per annum received back to complex volumetric based contracts,

though recent disaggregation shall see this increase by approx. 25% year on year; Escalate to contract management function and suppliers where invoices do not reconcile;

Develop business cases based on the appropriate accounting treatment;

Respond to NAO questions at quarter 3 and quarter 4 to evidence the appropriateness of financial treatment and governance;

Complete financial accounting returns at Q3 and Q4 for the NAO to audit;

Monthly forecast meetings with all budget holders and uploads agreed position;

Manage cash requirements and forecasts with the CSC;

Work with the fixed asset team on life-ing assets;

Manage

corporate service external facing KPI.

two.2.11) Information about options

Options: No

two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.1) Type of procedure

Negotiated without a prior call for competition

  • The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:
    • absence of competition for technical reasons

Explanation:

In line with reg. 32.2.b.ii the Authority considers that competition is absent for technical reasons on the following basis:

Post-merger, the Authority has continued through a period of significant internal change and reorganisation. The Authority is currently in a period of system stabilisation and further development for our recently implemented Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, which brought together the two legacy departments into a single solution. During this period of stabilisation, the service is required to interrogate cost model detail of Authority DDaT contracts so as to accurately raise PO, then reconcile and receipt invoices 10,000 – 14,000 invoices per annum.

In addition to a new ERP solution, the Authority has numerous parallel strategic programmes replacing legacy services – while these are in transition, the service must reconcile costs against both old and new cost models using both current and legacy ERP cost centres. To support this highly complex work, the incumbent has developed XLS based models to assist with migration and early life support (ELS) of the service.

In consideration of our current environment, the Authority believes that the incumbent team has knowhow and understanding of our legacy systems, reporting and organisational structures required for the delivery of the services that cannot be replicated by a competitor. Further, the incumbent team has provided expert advice into the development of nascent ERP processes that have yet to be fully documented and provided insight on migration and ELS. Finally, due to the nascent nature of the new ERP

system and processes, the Authority is unable to document specific requirements accurately and unambiguously, with current day to day operations during this system stabilisation period based on a significant degree of flexibility generated by goodwill, prior working relations between the Parties and the incumbent’s depth of knowledge the Authority.

The Authority considers the services to be business critical, in that they are essential to our ability to procure goods and pay our suppliers on time

four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes


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

21 March 2024

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

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence Limited

Guildford, Surrey

GU2 7RQ

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code
  • UK - United Kingdom
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME

No

five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)

Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £4,015,460

five.2.5) Information about subcontracting

The contract/lot/concession is likely to be subcontracted


Section six. Complementary information

six.4) Procedures for review

six.4.1) Review body

High Court, Royal Courts of Justice

London

Country

United Kingdom