Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
Powys County Council
County Hall
Llandrindod Wells
LD1 5LG
UK
Telephone: +44 01597826000
E-mail: mary.salmon@powys.gov.uk
NUTS: UKL24
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://en.powys.go.uk/
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA0354
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Schools Information Management System (SIMS)
II.1.2) Main CPV code
72000000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Transition from existing contractual model of perpetual licence of SIMS to local authority with associated support services, to software as a service model contracting directly with individual schools to provide SIMS and associated support services.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Lowest offer:
4 845.00
GBP/ Highest offer:
16 845.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
72260000
72268000
72261000
72300000
72310000
72320000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKL24
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Prior to the award of these contracts, the current provider (ESS) had a contract with the local authority under which it provided a perpetual licence to the local authority for the purpose of providing SIMS to the schools in the local authority's area, with associated support services.
ESS has now served notice to terminate that contract and requires that, in order to continue provision of SIMS, individual schools must enter into direct contracts with ESS to receive SIMS as software as a service.
In order to bring about the transition, the local authority will enter into a Facilitation Agreement ("FA") with ESS under which nothing of value is received by ESS and no material services are provided to the local authority; it is purely an administrative arrangement to effect the transition. Each school in the local authority's area will enter into a School Contract ("SC") with ESS for the direct provision of SIMS as software as a service, at substantially the same cost as before.
The highest value SC is 16845 GBP (3 years) and the lowest value SC is 4845 GBP (3 years)
The schools in the local authority's area whose governing bodies will enter into contracts with ESS are as follows:
Brecon High School, Crickhowell High School, Gwernyfed High School, Llanidloes High School, Newtown High School, Welshpool High School, Ysgol Bro Hyddgen, Ysgol Calon Cymru, Ysgol, Llanfyllin, Ysgol Maesydderwen, Ysgol Uwchradd Caereinion High School.
The local authority publishes this notice on behalf of itself and the schools listed above but is not acting as a central purchasing body on behalf of the schools.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Price
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
II.2.14) Additional information
Contract duration 36 months
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition
Justification for selected award procedure:
The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the Directive
Explanation
This contract award notice is intended to be a relevant contract award notice pursuant to Reg.93(2),(3)and(4) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. It is published on a wholly voluntary basis and without prejudice to the local authority's (LA) and the governing body of each individual school. No prior publication of a contract notice, and thus no competitive tender exercise was required in respect of the Facilitation Agreement (FA) and/or the individual Schools Contracts (SC) as neither are within the scope of application of Part 2 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) due to the following reasons:- The FA has no "value" but simply puts in place an administrative mechanism to transition contracts from LA to schools. It is therefore below the threshold set out in Reg. 5 (as reviewed pursuant to Reg.5A) of the 2015 Regulations. -The governing body of each individual school is a separate contracting entity and each individual SC is a separate contract, each of the individual SCs in the LA's area ranging between 4845 GBP and 16845 GBP in total over the three-year duration of each SC. Each individual contract is therefore below the threshold set out in Reg.5 (as reviewed pursuant to Reg.5A) of the 2015 Regulations. Further or in the alternative, neither the FA nor individual SCs are subject to a requirement to carry out prior publication of a contract notice and/or any form of competitive tender, because; - the services can only be provided by one particular economic operator (ESS), because competition is absent for technical reasons pursuant to Reg. 32(2)(b)(ii) of the 2015 Regulations. All of the schools in the LA currently use ESS' SIMS product. It would take a minimum of 12mths to transition from ESS'SIMS product to another product. ESS served 90 days notice to terminate the current arrangements mid December 2021, therefore not possible in the timescales for schools to tender and purchase an alternative product and transition to it. - urgency pursuant to Reg. 32(2)(c) of the 2015 Regulations. The provision of SIMS is essential to the running of a school and a school cannot function without it. Due to the short notice given by ESS timescales did not allow for the open or restricted procedure, or competitive procedure with negotiation to be undertaken. It is intended to advertise a competitive tender for SIMS on an all-Wales basis. Award and transition of new contracts to coincide with the end of the 3yr term of the SCs with ESS.
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
Section V: Award of contract
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
28/02/2022
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 0
Number of tenders received from tenderers from EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Education Software Solutions Limited
11 Kingsley Lodge, 13 New Cavendish Street
London
W1G9UG
UK
Telephone: +44 7999709125
NUTS: UKI
Internet address(es)
URL: https://www.educationsoftwaresolutions.co.uk/
The contractor is an SME:
No
V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot:
Lowest offer:
4 845.00
GBP
/ Highest offer:
16 845.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
(WA Ref:119282)
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
High Court
Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
UK
Telephone: +44 2079477501
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
07/04/2022