Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Department for Work and Pensions
Peel Park Control Centre, Brunel Way
Blackpool
FY4 5ES
Contact
Liz Johnstone
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKD42 - Blackpool
National registration number
UKD42 Blackpool
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
Social protection
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Assessment Service Information Systems (ASIS) Contract
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 72223000 - Information technology requirements review services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Supplier currently provides managed IT services to the Authority under a contract due to expire on 28.2.2022 (the ASIS Contract). The ASIS Contract supports the Authority’s separate contract for health and disability assessment services (HDAS) for a range of social security and other benefits (including Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit) and requires extending for 3 years to enable the service to be safely transitioned prior to the ultimate migration to the DWP Health Assessment Service (HAS) digital service.
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: £124,144,297
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The ASIS Contract was awarded on 9 June 2014. It was modified in 2018 to include options to extend and is currently due to expire on 28 February 2022. This notice confirms that an extension of up to an additional 3 years to 28 February 2025 has become necessary.
The extension period is necessary to ensure the Department can continue to support live service for health and disability assessments, provide business continuity for the HDAS contract, ensure this digital service is able to support the Department’s future requirements for health assessment services and support the DWP’s proposed future strategy for the ASIS service which, in essence, is continued provision of ASIS through to a controlled migration to DWP’s Health Assessment Service (HAS). In order to bridge the period between the existing ASIS contract and this migration, DWP will initially need to extend the current ASIS Contract.
A 3-year extension of the service is required due to the significant technical and time restrictions of all other options. Extension of the contract will provide the following benefits:
• service continuity will be maintained;
• implementation of the optimum solution for delivery of ASIS services post February 2025 will continue to be taken forward in the period following execution of the extension
• implementation of the necessary mandatory projects required to both ensure that the ongoing services for health and disability assessments continue to be supported and facilitate transition to another provider prior to expiry of the extension .
For these reasons, as explained more fully in Section IV and Annex D, the Department considers the proposed extension to be justifiable under Regulation 72 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, namely Regulation 72(1)(b). The amendments comprising the extension will not be made before the end of a period of at least 10 days from the day after the date of publication of this notice.
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
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
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:
Additional services by the original contractor have become necessary
The extension of the ASIS Contract has become necessary to maintain the service for the health and disability assessments it supports, and accommodate the changing requirements for future delivery of assessments following Covid-19. Not extending the contract would ultimately result in a virtual closure of the gateway to income replacement benefit of c.£15b of AME spend per annum.
The previous DWP strategy, reflected in the last extension of the ASIS contract in 2018, was transition from the ASIS contract into a new in-house digital solution by February 2022. However, substantial changes in the direction of the Health Transformation Programme (HTP) and in the IT strategy underpinning the HTP mean that completing the transition to HAS by February 2022 is no longer achievable. The HTP has also been significantly impacted by Covid-19 and the revised strategy imposes operational constraints on the timelines and transition for the ASIS services required to support delivery of Health Assessment Services.
This proposed 3-year contract extension will both maintain business as usual and enable DWP to progress its strategy of ultimately transitioning to HAS. Accordingly, ASIS services will be needed until that point. The Department is examining the options for ASIS services after the proposed extension period from February 2025 as it progresses to migration to HAS.
Technical reasons prevent a change of contractor
There is a complex and aged technology stack and legacy applications in the hosting environments are written in outdated software. The stack requires significant upgrading that would be extremely difficult without existing knowledge of the solution and key documentation is lacking. Due to these technical reasons, implementing a plan to guarantee transition from the legacy ASIS service to a replacement service within a shorter extension is not considered possible. The absence of a technically feasible plan for earlier transition could result in unavailability of the services under the HDAS 2021-3 Contract which underpins c.£15b of AME spend per annum. Due to the technical issues, attempting to replace the ASIS service for less than a 3-year extension period would therefore pose a very high risk of inability to provide these services effectively over that period with severe consequences and would not be viable.
Change of contractor would cause significant inconvenience or substantial duplication of costs
Attempting a shorter delivery plan would mean DWP committing additional resources which might then impact resources to deliver DWP’s strategic integrated solution (i.e. HAS), therefore jeopardising the planned availability date for HAS. Not extending the current contract for 3 years could adversely impact the delivery of health and disability assessments as described and necessitate implementing a contingency arrangement resulting in significant inconvenience and substantial duplication of costs.
Any increase in price does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract
The value of the original contract for years 1-5 was £64,823,309 and the maximum extension value is therefore £32,411,655. The value of the contract as extended in 2018 was £91,732,642.
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
Title
Assessment Service Information Systems (ASIS) Contract
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
9 June 2014
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
Atos IT Services UK Limited
Second Floor, Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6EA
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
National registration number
01245534
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £124,144,297
five.2.5) Information about subcontracting
The contract/lot/concession is likely to be subcontracted
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
Suppliers Instructions:
How to Express Interest in this Tender:
1. Register on the eSourcing portal (this is only required once):
https://dwp.bravosolution.co.uk & click the link to register - Accept the terms & conditions & click 'continue' - Enter your correct business & user details - Note your chosen username & click 'Save'. You will receive an email with your password (keep this secure)
2. Express an Interest in the tender - Login to the portal with the username/password - Click the 'PQQs / ITTs Open To All Suppliers' link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or Invitations to Tender open to any registered supplier) - Click on the relevant exercise to access the content. - Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page. - This will move the PQQ /ITT into your 'My PQQs/ My ITTs' page. (A secure area reserved for your projects only) -You can now access any attachments by clicking 'Buyer Attachments' in the 'PQQ/ ITT Details' box
3. Responding to the tender - Click 'My Response' under 'PQQ/ ITT Details', you can choose to 'Create Response' or to 'Decline to Respond' (please give a reason if declining) - You can now use the 'Messages' function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification - Note the deadline for completion. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the PQQ/ ITT - There may be a mixture of online & offline actions to complete (detailed online help available). To submit your reply use the 'Submit Response' button (top of the page).
For further assistance please consult the online help, or the eTendering help desk.
DWP expressly reserves the rights(i)to use a reverse auction; (ii)to cancel this procurement at any stage; (iii)to not award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice; (iv)and in no circumstances will DWP be liable for any costs incurred by potential suppliers.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Royal Courts of Justice
London
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
Review procedures are as set out in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Proceedings under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 are time limited, and any such proceedings must be brought in the High Court of England and Wales.