Scope
Reference
477
Description
This Transparency Notice is being issued to notify the market that the University of Lincoln intends to Direct Award a contract to AppsAnywhere Ltd for their AppsAnywhere solution. The solution is a centralised application delivery platform, which reduces the complexities in remote application access and delivery. It allows users (students and staff) to access applications remotely, without the need to use a virtual desktop. The AppsAnywhere solution works differently from other solutions in the marketplace, offering a unique model that is runs natively on devices which requires less resource on the University Digital Technologies infrastructure.
The substantial difference between AppsAnywhere and all the other possible solutions, is that the Windows academic applications hosted in AppsAnywhere run 'natively' on the user's device and are not therefore hosted by the University. This means that the University does not have to host the applications in its own environment, and it does not have the associated High Performance Compute costs.
To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=985039095
Contract 1
Supplier
Contract value
- £275,484 excluding VAT
- £330,580 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Earliest date the contract will be signed
1 December 2025
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028
- 3 years
Main procurement category
Goods
CPV classifications
- 48211000 - Platform interconnectivity software package
- 48219100 - Gateway software package
Contract locations
- UKF3 - Lincolnshire
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Direct award
Direct award justification
Single supplier - technical reasons
The University of Lincoln intends to award AppsAnywhere Ltd a contract to continue its provision of remote and cloud-based platforms for Windows academic application delivery by providing seamless, on-demand, access to applications on any device, anywhere.
This contract is being awarded in accordance with Chapter 3, Section 41 Direct Award in Special Cases (1)(a) and (6) of the Public Procurement Act 2023. This is for Technical Reasons, as defined under the provisions of Schedule 5 paragraph 6, as stated below:
"(a) due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and
(b) there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works."
The key justifications for this award are that despite other suppliers being able to provide remote applications and desktops, none of them work in the same way as the AppsAnywhere Ltd solution (AppsAnywhere). From the University's research, all the other solutions providers will require the University to incur ongoing, variable High Performance Compute (HPC) costs. The AppsAnywhere solution, allows the Windows academic applications to run natively on the user's device. This therefore means that the University will not have an ongoing, usage dependent, HPC cost which is dependent on user's volumes from when users access the remote applications, that would be hosted from within the University's environment.
The unique elements of the AppsAnywhere solution therefore meets the justification requirement for a direct award, for single supplier, by the University, because there is an 'absence of competition for technical reasons' and 'there are no reasonable alternatives'. The unique features of AppsAnywhere are outlined below:
Technical Reasons - because there are no alternatives that run Windows academic applications natively on user devices, therefore demonstrating that there is a lack of competition for 'Technical Reasons'.
Reasonable Alternatives - all alternatives have variable ongoing HPC cost, which therefore means that there are no 'Reasonable Alternatives' that the University can implement which will have the same low value running/usage costs.
Supplier
AppsAnywhere Limited
- Companies House: 07018761
The Foresters Arms, 35 Kirkgate,, Sherburn in Elmet,
Leeds,
LS25 6BH
United Kingdom
Email: sales@appsanywhere.com
Region: UKE22 - North Yorkshire CC
Small or medium-sized enterprise (SME): Yes
Voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE): No
Contract 1
Contracting authority
University of Lincoln
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PGYJ-5468-QTPJ
Lawress Hall, Riseholme Park, Riseholme
Lincoln
LN2 2LG
United Kingdom
Region: UKF30 - Lincolnshire
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government