Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Department of Education
Rathgael House, Balloo Road
Bangor
BT19 7PR
SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/
Buyer's address
https://www.finance-ni.gov.uk/topics/procurement
one.2) Information about joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
Education
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
ID 5077729 - DfE - BMC - Belfast Met Website Development and Hosting
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
Belfast Met have a requirement for the provision of hosting, development, support and maintenance of the Belfast Met website. The contract shall cover the following – • Hosting Services • Maintenance Services • Support Services including Helpdesk • Additional service days including development, adhoc training and out of hours support. The Contract will be for an initial period of 2 years from commencement date with the option to extend by two further periods of 2 years and 1 year (+2 + 1). The estimated value of the contract is £200,000
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: £200,000
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 72212222 - Web server software development services
- 72212224 - Web page editing software development services
- 72212780 - System, storage and content management software development services
- 72212783 - Content management software development services
- 72400000 - Internet services
- 72410000 - Provider services
- 72413000 - World wide web (www) site design services
- 72415000 - World wide web (www) site operation host services
- 48000000 - Software package and information systems
- 48780000 - System, storage and content management software package
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN - Northern Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Belfast Met have a requirement for the provision of hosting, development, support and maintenance of the Belfast Met website. The contract shall cover the following – • Hosting Services • Maintenance Services • Support Services including Helpdesk • Additional service days including development, adhoc training and out of hours support. The Contract will be for an initial period of 2 years from commencement date with the option to extend by two further periods of 2 years and 1 year (+2 + 1). The estimated value of the contract is £200,000
two.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion - Name: all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents / Weighting: 70
Cost criterion - Name: all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents / Weighting: 30
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of options
Following the initial contract period, there are 2 options to extend for 2 years and 1 year each.
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
Contract ValueThe figure indicated in Section II 1.5 represents an estimated contract value. This value reflects the potential scale of the contract and takes into account potential optional extension periods and the uptake of potential optional services as detailed in the tender documents. This figure does not however take into account the application of indexation. Neither CPD nor the Authority can provide any guarantee as to the level of business under this contract. The Contracting Authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender. Economic Operators remain responsible for all costs and expenses incurred by them or by any third party acting under instructions from the Economic Operator in connection with taking part in this procurement process regardless of whether such costs arise as a consequence, directly or indirectly of any amendments made to the procurement documents by the Contracting Authority at any time. No legally binding contract shall arise and an Economic Operator shall. have no legitimate expectation that a contract will be entered into until such time as entry into the Contract has been confirmed by the. Contracting Authority. Economic Operators should note that all dates, time periods and figures in relation to values and volumes specified. in this notice and the procurement documents are approximate only and the Contracting Authority reserves the right to change any or all of them.
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.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number: 2024/S 000-015888
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
1
Title
Contract
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
22 July 2024
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 2
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 1
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 2
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
BEING COMMUNICATIONS LTD
38-52 Lisburn Road
BELFAST
BT9 6AA
Telephone
+44 2890735980
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
Internet address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
The contractor is an SME
Yes
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: £200,000
Total value of the contract/lot: £200,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
Contract Monitoring. The successful supplier’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored in line with the tender documentation. Suppliers not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a supplier 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 contract may be terminated. The issue of a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance can result in the supplier 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 three years from the date of issue. The Authority expressly reserves the rights: (I). not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice; (II). to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the tendering Competition; (III). to award (a) contract(s) in respect of any part(s) of the services covered by this notice; and (IV). to award contract(s) in stages. In no circumstances will the Authority be liable for any costs incurred by candidates. This project will be used to progress the Government’s wider social, economic and environmental objectives.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any such bodies with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures. Instead; any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the PCR 2015 as amended.
Belfast
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
CPD complied with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and incorporated a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract was communicated to tenderers. That notification provided full information on the award decision. This provided time for the unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract was entered into