Scope
Reference
LU00973
Description
A payment portal that consists of three main parts which are all heavily integrated with our corporate systems:
•a student payment portal
•an online store for selling miscellaneous goods and services
•a platform for integration with other online merchants
To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=942816450
Contract 1
Supplier
Contract value
- £297,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Earliest date the contract will be signed
7 June 2025
Contract dates (estimated)
- 7 June 2025 to 6 June 2030
- 5 years
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 66115000 - International payment transfer services
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Direct award
Direct award justification
- Single supplier - technical reasons
- Additional or repeat goods, services or works - extension or partial replacement
There are a number of complexities and key features of the services that mean they are both a) specialised (meaning they are only available from one supplier when considering the key characteristics we require), and b) highly integrated into our existing systems (resulting in disproportionate technical difficulties in implementation of services from another supplier (if they exist) due to incompatibility with our systems).
The services consist of three main parts which are all heavily integrated with our corporate systems:
•a student payment portal
•an online store for selling miscellaneous goods and services
•a platform for integration with other online merchants
The main service is the student payment portal, for which we have a large number of requirements reflecting the complexity of the University's activities. These increase the specialism significantly in comparison to a simple payment acceptance portal (which would be available from a number of sources). The specific requirements that create such specialisation are:
•A seamless experience for payers via a single "make a payment" button on our website that all students can use regardless of payment method or where in the world the payment is coming from.
•Payers to receive payment options applicable to the location they are paying from, with those paying from locations outside the UK being able to access locally important payment methods, and the ability to pay in their own local currency in as many countries as practically, and legally, possible.
•Payments to be routed via different payment acquirer channels (i.e. University or supplier acquired) depending on the type of payment.
•Support for payers in their local language, covering time zone appropriate hours, and understanding local requirements.
•Students making deposit payments to be able to do so from within our student admissions system
•Integration with our admissions, student record and accounting systems
•Transactional information and breakdowns to support automated reconciliation and allocation of payments.
•Payer information to support the University's AML checks and processes
•A single interface that can be used to link with third party payment providers in a way that allows the University to link to these, whilst protecting the University's PCI DSS compliance by preventing its own infrastructure from coming into scope of PCI DSS.
The above requirements have been created to resolve the significant confusion around how to pay the University when more fragmented solutions were in place. These resulted in poor payer experience and transparency as well as high fees for those paying the University. The importance of using an integrated service can be readily demonstrated by improvements in compliance with paying via the University's approved methods of payment.
We are not aware of any other supplier who can meet all of the above requirements and in the event that such a supplier did exist, the work to transfer between providers would be disproportionate technical difficulties.
Supplier
Flywire Payments Limited
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PRCB-4568-DYLW
45 Folgate Street
London
E1 6BX
United Kingdom
Contact name: Andy Doyle
Email: andy.doyle@flywire.com
Region: UKI42 - Tower Hamlets
Small or medium-sized enterprise (SME): No
Voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE): No
Contract 1
Contracting authority
Loughborough University
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PRGT-9932-PLJN
Epinal Way
Loughborough
LE11 3TU
United Kingdom
Telephone: 01509 228186
Email: a.ellis@lboro.ac.uk
Region: UKF22 - Leicestershire CC and Rutland
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government