Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
The Excutive Office
SD03 Stormont Castle Stormont Estate
BELFAST
BT4 3TT
Contact
SSDAdmin.CPDfinance-ni.gov.uk
SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
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 5751799 - TEO - Stenography Services for NI Public Inquiries
Reference number
5751799
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 75231100 - Law-courts-related administrative services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
To assist the Chairs in implementing the Inquiries as required by their separate Terms of Reference, the Inquiries Act 2005 and Inquiry Rules 2006, bespoke Inquiry legislation, and the Protocols, and with a particular emphasis on fairness, cost-effectiveness and timeliness, the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Northern Ireland Office wish to procure stenography and transcription services to support multiple concurrent inquiries. The Contractor must provide the following, Provision of accurate, real-time transcripts of oral hearings (including translated versions, if required); Provision of daily finalised transcripts for Inquiry records within two hours of the end of the oral hearing; and • Initially inquiry locations are expected to be (this will be determined by each inquiry): Bradford Court, 1 Bradford Court, Galwally, Belfast and Corn Exchange, 31 Gordon Street, Belfast. The Contractor will also be required to provide ad-hoc stenography and transcription services at external locations across the UK or in the Republic of Ireland.
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: £3,000,000
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 79551000 - Typing services
- 79550000 - Typing, word-processing and desktop publishing services
- 79530000 - Translation services
- 79540000 - Interpretation services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN - Northern Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
To assist the Chairs in implementing the Inquiries as required by their separate Terms of Reference, the Inquiries Act 2005 and Inquiry Rules 2006, bespoke Inquiry legislation, and the Protocols, and with a particular emphasis on fairness, cost-effectiveness and timeliness, the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Northern Ireland Office wish to procure stenography and transcription services to support multiple concurrent inquiries. The Contractor must provide the following, Provision of accurate, real-time transcripts of oral hearings (including translated versions, if required); Provision of daily finalised transcripts for Inquiry records within two hours of the end of the oral hearing; and • Initially inquiry locations are expected to be (this will be determined by each inquiry): Bradford Court, 1 Bradford Court, Galwally, Belfast and Corn Exchange, 31 Gordon Street, Belfast. The Contractor will also be required to provide ad-hoc stenography and transcription services at external locations across the UK or in the Republic of Ireland.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion - Name: AC1 Proposed Methodology / Weighting: 28.2
Quality criterion - Name: AC2 Contract Management / Weighting: 16.2
Quality criterion - Name: AC3 Data Protection / Weighting: 5.4
Quality criterion - Name: AC4 Social Value / Weighting: 10.2
Cost criterion - Name: AC5 Cost / Weighting: 40
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of options
Option to extend for up to two further periods of twelve months 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
Option to extend for up to two further periods of twelve months
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: 2025/S 000-006391
four.2.9) Information about termination of call for competition in the form of a prior information notice
The contracting authority will not award any further contracts based on the above prior information notice
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
1
Title
ID 5751799 - TEO - Stenography Services for NI Public Inquiries
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
1 July 2025
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: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 0
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
GWEN MALONE STENOGRAPHY COMPANY
The Law Library 145-151 Church Street
Dublin
D07 WDX8
Country
Ireland
NUTS code
- IE - Ireland
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: £3,000,000
Total value of the contract/lot: £3,000,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
The contract value figure represents the maximum contract value. However, as this is a call off contract that is demand driven there is no guarantee to the level of work. The estimated contract value is a range between £1m and £3m which will be determined by the usage off the contract depending on the number of enquiries at both locations. 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 the 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 their place on the contract may be terminated.The issue of a Notice 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 Notice.
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.
uk
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.