Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Britannia House, Hall Ings
Bradford
BD1 1HX
Contact
Mrs Catherine Mullins
catherine.mullins@bradford.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber
Internet address(es)
Main address
http://www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc
Buyer's address
http://www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
one.5) Main activity
Other activity
IT Services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
CBMDC 466 - Northgate Cloud Hosting Solution
Reference number
DN551809
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
This VEAT notification is to notify the market that the Council is intending to contract with NEC Software Solutions UK Ltd (previously Northgate Public Services UK Ltd) for a 5 year term for its Revenues and Benefits system. The contract is not to procure a new system, but to contract with NEC Software Solutions to continue to provide the existing solution, and to move this to a cloud hosted model. The existing system was purchased in 2005 and is currently operating on Council on-premise infrastructure.
The Council is using Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the negotiated procedure without prior publication to award this contract.
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Lowest offer: £1,490,000 / Highest offer: £2,000,000 taken into consideration
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
This VEAT notification is to notify the market that the Council is intending to contract with NEC Software Solutions UK Ltd (previously Northgate Public Services UK Ltd) for a 5 year term for its Revenues and Benefits system. The contract is not to procure a new system, but to contract with NEC Software Solutions to continue to provide the existing solution, and to move this to a cloud hosted model. The existing system was purchased in 2005 and is currently operating on Council on-premise infrastructure.
The Council is using Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the negotiated procedure without prior publication to award this contract.
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:
- protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights
Explanation:
The Council is using Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the negotiated procedure without prior publication to award this contract.
The protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights Regulation 32(2)(b)(iii).
NEC Software Solutions UK Ltd (previously Northgate Public Services UK Ltd) own the IPR rights to the software in the existing solution, and do not allow other 3rd parties to access source code and therefore another provider would be unable to provide a support and maintenance service for the existing solution. To move the existing solution to another provider would not be possible, and would necessitate an overhaul of all of the integrated systems and a new solution to be designed which would make it cost-prohibitive.
Competition is absent for technical reasons (Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii)).
There is a complex integration in place between the existing Council Northgate system and external organisations such as Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and govtech as well as integration with internal systems across the Council.
The new contract will include a migration of applications, reports and schedules from an un-supported environment to the current supported version and current universes. It will also include a regular unlimited refresh/clone of the system to enable the Council to carry out extensive testing.
The Council requires specialist skills for support during year end processes including rollbacks and out of hours support. Batch processes need to run efficiently so there is no impact on the BAU activities during core working hours. This contract will ensure the infrastructure is designed and tuned to improve system performance.
Moving the existing system to a hosted solution is specialist support that logistically can only be provided in the most cost-effective, expedient and complete way by NEC Software Solutions as the existing provider. They have implemented the system and made bespoke developments to the system since 2005 and therefore have the requisite technical expertise in this system.
In terms of ongoing hosting once migrated, the provision of the hosting service by the owner of the solution will allow for direct accountability to the Council and the most economically advantageous solution which enables the Council to have access to the most up to date product functionality direct from the source.
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
5 July 2021
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
NEC Software Solutions UK Ltd
575-599 Maxted Road
Hemel Hempstead
HP2 7DX
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Lowest offer: £1,490,000 / Highest offer: £2,000,000 taken into consideration
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
City of Bradford MDC
Bradford
BD1 1HY
Country
United Kingdom