Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
The Consumer Council
Floor 3, Seatem House 28-32 Alfred Street
Belfast
BT2 8EN
SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.consumercouncil.org.uk/
Buyer's address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
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 4683788 - DfE - Consumer Council NI - Household Expenditure Tracker Data
Reference number
ID 4683788
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 79310000 - Market research services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Consumer Council is seeking to appoint an economic forecasting and consulting company to provide the Consumer Council with ongoing quarterly data analysis and reporting relating to the financial position of consumers across all regions of the United Kingdom with a particular focus on Northern Ireland and the impact of the cost of living crisis on consumer income, expenditure and discretionary income.
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: £140,100
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 79315000 - Social research services
- 79311400 - Economic research services
- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 73110000 - Research services
- 73200000 - Research and development consultancy services
- 73210000 - Research consultancy services
- 66170000 - Financial consultancy, financial transaction processing and clearing-house services
- 66171000 - Financial consultancy services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN0 - Northern Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Consumer Council is seeking to appoint an economic forecasting and consulting company to provide the Consumer Council with ongoing quarterly data analysis and reporting relating to the financial position of consumers across all regions of the United Kingdom with a particular focus on Northern Ireland and the impact of the cost of living crisis on consumer income, expenditure and discretionary income.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion - Name: Qualitative Criteria / Weighting: 60
Cost criterion - Name: Quantitative Criteria / Weighting: 40
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of options
The Client will have the option to extend the contract by two further periods of one 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
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: 2023/S 000-018849
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
20 September 2023
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 3
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: 3
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
GRANT THORNTON NI LLP
12 to 15 Donegall Square West
Belfast
BT16JH
Telephone
+44 2896871050
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: £140,100
Total value of the contract/lot: £140,100
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
Contract Monitoring. The successful contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored. 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 Certificate of Unsatisfactory Performance and the contract may be terminated. The issue of a Certificate 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 certificate.
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 (as amended) 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.