Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Ministry of Defence
Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street
Glasgow
G2 8EX
jonathan.mcniven101@mod.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
Defence
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
LinkedIn License for MOD External Vacancies
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 79611000 - Job search services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Use of the LinkedIn platform for externally advertised vacancies in the MOD
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: £360,316
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- IE0 - Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Use of the linkedin platform to advertise jobs to external candidates
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
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:
The justification is as per PCR 2015, Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) as follows:
Until recently, for externally advertised MOD vacancies, Civil Service Jobs was the only website that potential candidates could find out about MOD’s advertised roles. This meant that MOD relied on potential applicants already having an interest in the Civil Service and knowing what sort of opportunities were likely to be available. This made MOD reach extremely narrow as Defence was missing out on large numbers of applicants who did not already have a high awareness of the Civil Service or were interested in a profession but did not know that there were opportunities in MOD. This was negative in terms of the professions, diversity, and social mobility.
LinkedIn is a single source provider (there is no alternative supplier offering their services) enabling business areas to showcase prospective candidates what it is like to work for them using a variety of content including adverts/featured content/testimonies before prospective candidates place an application for the advertised role.
Recent research has highlighted different outcomes in recruitment for staff with protected characteristics, and whilst activity to address this is multifaceted, enabling MOD to raise the profile of our organisation and the diversity of our workforce will enable us to improve the diversity of our workforce
LinkedIn is the only company that provides hiring solutions services to customers within Europe, middle east & Africa. Its hiring and social networking solution is unique and as such, a direct competition process isn’t viable. Other companies like, ‘Facebook’, ‘Bark’, ‘Opportunity’, and ‘Xing’, offer similar social networking platforms but with limited professional reach, unlike LinkedIn. There are clear differences in the services on offer and the scale of reach in terms of target audience. Of these four companies , none have a comparable level of professional and global presence and therefore this would not enable MOD to source quality talent and in turn build and sustain a more diverse workforce. This would detrimentally impact on MOD ability to fill our roles and deliver MOD key objectives.
Facebook is the largest social networking platform, ‘Facebook’ has 2,91 billion monthly users, known mostly for personal networking. ‘Bark’, has around 5 million users in comparison to Linkedin’s 800 million. The basic role of this platform is to connect professionals with people who look for their services. ‘Opportunity’ is a platform with nearly 80 million users across 190+ countries. It concentrates on professional matchmaking, users can find new job opportunities and apply for them. Xing is a professional-oriented social networking platform that enables its users to network, share news, and look for job opportunities. Although Xing is well known in Germany (17 million users), Austria (1.6 million users), and Switzerland 1.4 million users), it has limited UK reach.
Given the above there are no other value-for-money alternatives to consider which will enable us to promote MOD as an employer, advertis our vacancies and with additional products (recruiter directly reach out to prospective candidates).
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
705772452
Title
Supply of LinkedIn Licenses for External MOD Vacancies
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
11 October 2022
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company
Wilton PLace
Dublin
Country
Ireland
NUTS code
- IE0 - Ireland
The contractor is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: £360,316
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
MOD
65 Brown Street
Glasgow
Country
United Kingdom