Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
Invest Northern Ireland
Bedford Square 1 Bedford Street
BELFAST
BT2 7ES
UK
E-mail: SSDAdmin.CPD@finance-ni.gov.uk
NUTS: UKN
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Address of the buyer profile: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
ID 5448827 Invest NI - Development and Delivery of the Invest NI Going Dutch Programme
Reference number: ID 5448827
II.1.2) Main CPV code
79413000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Invest NI in recognising the challenge for SME’s and in particular Early-Stage Exporters to grow outside Northern Ireland, wish to appoint a Contractor for the design and development of the “Going Dutch Programme” that will support and develop the capability of our companies, giving them the confidence, ambition, knowledge and skills required to develop new external and export markets for the first time. As a result, Invest NI is seeking to appoint a Supplier for the development, delivery and management of the programme for an initial period of 24 months from the date of appointment, with the option to extend for two further periods of 24 months and 12 months respectively, with an anticipated launch date in financial quarter 4, 2024/25. Please see the Specification Schedule for further information.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
924 000.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79400000
79410000
79310000
80532000
73210000
73220000
75110000
75120000
75200000
66150000
73200000
75000000
75111100
75130000
75210000
73000000
75111200
66100000
73100000
73400000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKN
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Invest NI in recognising the challenge for SME’s and in particular Early-Stage Exporters to grow outside Northern Ireland, wish to appoint a Contractor for the design and development of the “Going Dutch Programme” that will support and develop the capability of our companies, giving them the confidence, ambition, knowledge and skills required to develop new external and export markets for the first time. As a result, Invest NI is seeking to appoint a Supplier for the development, delivery and management of the programme for an initial period of 24 months from the date of appointment, with the option to extend for two further periods of 24 months and 12 months respectively, with an anticipated launch date in financial quarter 4, 2024/25. Please see the Specification Schedule for further information.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion: AC1 Lead Programme Trainers and/or Trade Advisers Experience: Delivering an Export Development Programme
/ Weighting: 30
Quality criterion: AC2 Lead Programme Trainers and/or Trade Advisers Experience: Market Research / Export Projects
/ Weighting: 25.5
Quality criterion: AC3 Learning Objectives, Content and Methodology
/ Weighting: 9
Quality criterion: AC4 Social Value
/ Weighting: 10.5
Cost criterion: AC5 Total Contract Price
/ Weighting: 25
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
The initial contract period will run for a period of up to 24 months with a first option to extend for up to 24 months and a second optional extension period of up to 12 months.
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2024/S 000-038591
Section V: Award of contract
Contract No: 1
Title: Contract
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
03/04/2025
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 2
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from EU Member States: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 2
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Northern Ireland Trade Consultants B.V.
Beethovenstraat 176
Amsterdam
1077 JX
NL
Telephone: +31 204217400
E-mail: murn@nitc.nl
NUTS: NL
Internet address(es)
URL: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
The contractor is an SME:
Yes
V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot:
Total value of the contract/lot:
: 85 585.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
The successful contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored in line with the tender documentation. Contractors not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor 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 their 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 the contract may be terminated.. The issue of a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance can 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 three years from the date of issue.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.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.
Belfast
UK
VI.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.
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
03/04/2025