Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
The Secretary of State for Justice
102 Petty France
LONDON
SW1H 9AJ
Contact
Jonathan Bowdery
Telephone
+44 2033343555
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKI - London
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Not on any register
Internet address(es)
Main address
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
Application Maintainence and Support Services
Reference number
prj_9906
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
Contract for the supply of application maintenance and support services.
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: £60,340,000
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
Main site or place of performance
Nationally, to include MoJ headquarters, HM Courts & tribunals
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
To provide:
i) application maintenance and support for ~35 business-critical applications the majority of which are used by HM Courts and Tribunal Service; and
ii) potential application development and enhancement services, as and when required. The applications vary in size, complexity, component technologies, user numbers, interfaces with other applications, security requirements, service and support hours, business criticality and hosting arrangements. Most of the applications are classed as "heritage applications" due to their age. Many are business critical case management or case progression systems used by the courts and are typically complex and bespoke. Applications may be removed from scope as they are retired or replaced under new supplier arrangements.
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.14) Additional information
The initial term of the contract is for 12 months with an option to extend for a further period of 12 months. The contract enables the authority to terminate services at its convenience and partially and it is envisaged that a number of applications will be removed from scope over the term as they are retired/replaced and as in-house software delivery capability is developed. The authority intends to commence a competitive procurement process for the maintenance/support of the remaining applications during the initial term.
The estimated maximum contract value for this contract (£60,340,000 GBP) is based on estimated service charges of £31,200,000 GBP with the remaining value discretionary spend on potential project work, and assumes the option to extend the term is exercised. The project work is optional and is not guaranteed, the extension may not be necessary, and applications may be removed from scope over the term, so the actual cost of this contract may be lower than the estimated maximum contract value.
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
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the regulations
Explanation:
The authority relies on Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) (Use of negotiated procedure without prior publication) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 namely: the services can only be provided by a particular economic operator, the incumbent supplier (CGI IT UK Limited), who has been providing the services forming the subject matter of this contract under a contract with the authority for the last 8 years three months which is due to expire on 31.08.23, because competition is absent for technical reasons, and no reasonable alternative substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement for the following reasons.
(a) no other supplier has the necessary technical knowledge and experience to provide the services, because
i) most of the applications are bespoke and 'heritage applications' with many over 18 years old. The heritage applications are difficult to maintain because of their age and complexity and the extent to which they have been changed over the years and require very specialist technical knowledge and experience, e.g. skills/experience in using aged programming languages such as Fortran, COBOL, Pascal and C. The number of people with the skills, knowledge and experience to maintain and/or enhance them is limited outside CGI, which has developed significant knowledge and experience of how the applications were built and developed and how they operate and interface with each other; and
ii) delivering the services relies on non-live development and test environments, and management access to the live environments, both to provide ongoing support and to undertake application development/enhancement. For a replacement supplier to provide the services, they would need access to the same/equivalent existing non-live development and test environments. To build and implement equivalent development and test environments would take around 12 months and be challenging, expensive and risky without the necessary application knowledge/experience. A replacement supplier would additionally need to establish infrastructure, connectivity and processes to allow secure management access to the live environments, e.g. to investigate maintenance issues or for boarding purposes i.e. to deploy new applications/code.
(b) even if it was theoretically possible that another supplier(s) did have the necessary technical knowledge/experience, which the authority does not consider to be the case, it is estimated to take a minimum of 18-24 months for a procurement to be run and any replacement supplier(s) to be able to deliver the services (6 to 12 months to run a competition to award to another supplier depending on the route/process and around 12 months to transition) whereas the services are required from 01.09.2023.
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
2 August 2023
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
CGI UK Ltd
20 Fenchurch Street, 14th Floor
London
EC3M 3BY
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Not on any register
Internet address
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot/concession: £60,340,000
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £60,340,000
five.2.5) Information about subcontracting
The contract/lot/concession is likely to be subcontracted
Value or proportion likely to be subcontracted to third parties
Proportion: 15 %
Short description of the part of the contract to be subcontracted
Support and/or optional development services for some of the applications.
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
The authority relies on Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) (Use of negotiated procedure without prior publication) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 namely: the services can only be provided by a particular economic operator, the incumbent supplier (CGI IT UK Limited), who has been providing the services forming the subject matter of this contract under a contract with the authority for the last 8 years three months which is due to expire on 31.08.23, because competition is absent for technical reasons, and no reasonable alternative substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement for the following reasons.
(a) no other supplier has the necessary technical knowledge and experience to provide the services, because:
i) most of the applications are bespoke and 'heritage applications' with many over 18 years old. The heritage applications are difficult to maintain because of their age and complexity and the extent to which they have been changed over the years and require very specialist technical knowledge and experience, e.g. skills/experience in using aged programming languages such as Fortran, COBOL, Pascal and C. The number of people with the skills, knowledge and experience to maintain and/or enhance them is limited outside CGI, which has developed significant knowledge and experience of how the applications were built and developed and how they operate and interface with each other; and
ii) delivering the services relies on non-live development and test environments, and management access to the live environments, both to provide ongoing support and to undertake application development/enhancement. For a replacement supplier to provide the services, they would need access to the same/equivalent existing non-live development and test environments. To build and implement equivalent development and test environments would take around 12 months and be challenging, expensive and risky without the necessary application knowledge/experience. A replacement supplier would additionally need to establish infrastructure, connectivity and processes to allow secure management access to the live environments, e.g. to investigate maintenance issues or for boarding purposes i.e. to deploy new applications/code.
(b) even if it was theoretically possible that another supplier(s) did have the necessary technical knowledge/experience, which the authority does not consider to be the case, it is estimated to take a minimum of 18-24 months for a procurement to be run and any replacement supplier(s) to be able to deliver the services (6 to 12 months to run a competition to award to another supplier depending on the route/process and around 12 months to transition) whereas the services are required from 01.09.2023.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
High Court
Royal Courts of Justice, Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
High Court
Royal Courts of Justice, Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
Country
United Kingdom