Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
London
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKI - London
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy
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
Post Office Horizon Inquiry Expert Witness Services
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 71319000 - Expert witness services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Services to analyse c. 70,000 documents, identifying significant points relating to the Post Office Horizon Inquiry, and produce a written report which sets out the key points, and provide Expert Witness services during hearings in September.
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: £750,000
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKI - London
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Services to analyse c. 70,000 documents, identifying significant points relating to the Post Office Horizon Inquiry, and produce a written report which sets out the key points, and provide Expert Witness services during hearings in September.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
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
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the cases listed below
- No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to open procedure
Explanation:
1. Unforeseeable requirement: there is a provision in place already to analyse the document pack provided by a different supplier. However, the volume of highly technical documents received was much higher than indicated by the supplier, and the existing provision does not have the required expertise to deliver the requirement. Therefore, this requirement was only identifiable at the receipt of the document pack in March.
2. Hard deadline: This report must be completed and delivered to the relevant parties at the Inquiry sufficiently ahead of the September hearings. This makes a full open competition unfeasible due to timescales required to complete the work.
3. Failed framework competition: we contacted suppliers on the Management and Consultancy Framework 3 to provide Expressions of Interest in delivering this requirement. Our correspondence highlighted the need for the technical expertise, the importance of not having Conflicts of Interest (due to the political and high-profile nature of the Inquiry), experience as an expert witness, & the associated timescales. We received 0 EOIs from the suppliers on the MCF3 framework, which has resulted in us moving to STA as our recommended route to market.
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number: 2022/S 000-012939
four.2.9) Information about termination of call for competition in the form of a prior information notice
The contracting authority will not award any further contracts based on the above prior information notice
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
prj_402
Title
Expert Witness Services
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
30 May 2022
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Alix Partners
London
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKI - London
The contractor is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: £750,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
London
Country
United Kingdom