Contract

Procurement of CAS Data Licenses

  • DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Defra Network eTendering Portal)

F03: Contract award notice

Notice identifier: 2024/S 000-038382

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-04c0a1

Published 28 November 2024, 9:12am



Section one: Contracting authority

one.1) Name and addresses

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Defra Network eTendering Portal)

Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street

London

SW1P 4DF

Contact

Tom Dubberley

Email

tom.dubberley@defra.gov.uk

Telephone

+44 7827903738

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UK - United Kingdom

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs

Buyer's address

https://defra-family.force.com/s/Welcome

one.4) Type of the contracting authority

Ministry or any other national or federal authority

one.5) Main activity

Environment


Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

Procurement of CAS Data Licenses

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

Procurement of CAS Data Licenses and Associated Services to enable compliance with Chemical Identifier creation.

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: £73,229.32

two.2) Description

two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)

  • 48517000 - IT software package

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UK - United Kingdom

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

This is for the procurement of a license from the Chemical Abstracts Service to enable DEFRA to populate an internal database that will be used by UK REACH registrants to properly match a chemical substance to a unique identifier during the submission process within Comply With UK Reach service, and to publish these numbers in the public domain.

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 services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:
    • absence of competition for technical reasons

Explanation:

The justification for the use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication is against two items:

a) The thresholds for the Public Contract Regulations 2015 under Regulation 5 set out the minimum thresholds for Works, Services or Supply. For Services, Regulation 5 sets out the following “This Part applies to procurements with a value [inclusive] of VAT estimated to be equal to or greater than the following thresholds…for public supply contracts and public service contracts awarded by central government authorities, and design contests organised by such authorities, [£139,688]…” Therefore, it has been judged that due to the quoted figure from the Supplier, this would fall under the PCR 2015 Threshold for Services and therefore the Procurement Regulations will not apply.

b) The existing Supplier (Chemical Abstracts Service) owns the system for the internal CAS Database and the Chemical Identifiers, and therefore any new supplier would need to subcontract CAS for use of their tool (and subsequent licenses and expertise). Therefore Regulation 32 (2)(b)(ii) applies as competition is absent for technical reasons.

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

A contract/lot is awarded: Yes

five.2) Award of contract

five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract

30 October 2024

five.2.2) Information about tenders

Number of tenders received: 1

Number of tenders received from SMEs: 0

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: 1

The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No

five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor

CAS - Chemical Abstracts Services

2450 Olentangy River Road, Columbus, Ohio, US

Columbus, Ohio

43202

Email

help@cas.org

Telephone

+1 6144473731

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code
  • UK - United Kingdom
Internet address

https://www.cas.org/

The contractor is an SME

No

five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)

Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: £73,229.32

Total value of the contract/lot: £73,229.32


Section six. Complementary information

six.3) Additional information

The justification for the use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication is against two items:

a) The thresholds for the Public Contract Regulations 2015 under Regulation 5 set out the minimum thresholds for Works, Services or Supply. For Services, Regulation 5 sets out the following “This Part applies to procurements with a value [inclusive] of VAT estimated to be equal to or greater than the following thresholds…for public supply contracts and public service contracts awarded by central government authorities, and design contests organised by such authorities, [£139,688]…” Therefore, it has been judged that due to the quoted figure from the Supplier, this would fall under the PCR 2015 Threshold for Services and therefore the Procurement Regulations will not apply.

b) The existing Supplier (Chemical Abstracts Service) owns the system for the internal CAS Database and the Chemical Identifiers, and therefore any new supplier would need to subcontract CAS for use of their tool (and subsequent licenses and expertise). Therefore Regulation 32 (2)(b)(ii) applies as competition is absent for technical reasons.

six.4) Procedures for review

six.4.1) Review body

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Defra Network eTendering Portal)

Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street

London

SW1P 4DF

Country

United Kingdom

Internet address

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs

six.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Defra Network eTendering Portal)

Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street

London

SW1P 4DF

Country

United Kingdom

Internet address

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs

six.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Defra Network eTendering Portal)

Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street

London

SW1P 4DF

Country

United Kingdom

Internet address

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs