Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Department of Finance DoF
303 Airport Road West
BELFAST
BT3 9ED
Contact
SSDAdmin.CPDfinance-ni.gov.uk
SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.finance-ni.gov.uk/
Buyer's address
https://www.finance-ni.gov.uk/topics/procurement
one.1) Name and addresses
Northern Ireland Audit Office NIAO
106 University Street
Belfast
BT7 1EU
SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKN - Northern Ireland
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Buyer's address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
one.2) Information about joint procurement
The contract involves joint procurement
one.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
ID 4771087 - DoF - NIAO - Provision of External Audit Services
Reference number
4771087
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 79212000 - Auditing services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Client is seeking to appoint a Contractor to provide an external audit service for the NIAO. The Contract shall cover the audit of the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 Resource Accounts, with the option of extending annually to cover the 2026-27 and 2027-28 accounts. The Contract will also cover examinations of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the use of resources by NIAO in the same periods where required.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £150,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 79212200 - Internal audit services
- 79200000 - Accounting, auditing and fiscal services
- 79210000 - Accounting and auditing services
- 79212300 - Statutory audit services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN - Northern Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Client is seeking to appoint a Contractor to provide an external audit service for the NIAO. The Contract shall cover the audit of the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 Resource Accounts, with the option of extending annually to cover the 2026-27 and 2027-28 accounts. The Contract will also cover examinations of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the use of resources by NIAO in the same periods where required.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
two.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: £150,000
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months
36
This contract is subject to renewal
Yes
Description of renewals
The Contract shall run for an initial period of three years with the option to end for two further one year periods.
two.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: Yes
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of options
The Contract shall run for an initial period of three years with the option to end for two further one year periods.
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
two.2.14) Additional information
The appointment and duties of the Auditor of the Northern Ireland Audit Office are governed by the Audit (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 (the Order), which can be found at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1987/460/contents/made. . Under current arrangements, Article 6(4) of the Order, the Department of Finance (DoF) is required to appoint an Auditor for NIAO. The appointment will be made by DoF acting on advice from the Audit Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Section three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information
three.1) Conditions for participation
three.1.3) Technical and professional ability
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
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.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date
25 July 2023
Local time
3:00pm
four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
English
four.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Tender must be valid until: 23 October 2023
four.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date
25 July 2023
Local time
3:30pm
Section six. Complementary information
six.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: Yes
six.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
six.3) Additional information
Contractors not delivering on contract requirements. is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach satisfactory levels of contract. performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in CPD for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be. regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance and the their place on the contract may be terminated. The issue of a Notice of unsatisfactory Performance will result in the contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy for a period of twelve months from the date of issue of the Notice.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement competitions. Any challenges are dealt with by the High Court Commercial Division to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the Public Contracts Regulations
UK
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
CPD will comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) and where appropriate, will incorporate a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract is communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on on the award decision.