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
UK
Contact person: SSDAdmin.CPDfinance-ni.gov.uk
E-mail: ssdadmin.cpd@finance-ni.gov.uk
NUTS: UK
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Address of the buyer profile: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
I.2) Joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
Economic and financial affairs
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
ID 5094524 - DfE - Invest NI - Replacement Customer Portal
II.1.2) Main CPV code
72212445
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) have the requirement to replace their current MyINI Customer Portal. The current MyINI Customer Portal was launched in 2017 and was delivered as an off shoot to Invest NI’s overall Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) strategic project. Invest NI is now seeking a long-term contract to develop a next generation MyINI Customer Portal that will remain tightly integrated with its existing back-office systems (as they continue to evolve) and become the indispensable channel for Invest NI’s digital customer engagement in tight coordination with our other customer interaction channels. It is envisaged that the Supplier will be appointed in December 2024 with ‘Go-Live’ (of at least Phase 1) no later than the January 2026. Contracting for the licensing, maintenance and support will be for an initial period of 4 years from Go-Live of Phase 1, following which there will be two optional extension periods of 3 years each (4 plus 3 plus 3 yrs). There will be a break point at the end of years 4, 7 and 10 and at least 6 months prior to their expiry the client will assess whether the solution is still fit for purpose and meets Invest NI’s needs. At the end of Optional Extension Period 2 (January 2036), subject to approval and obtaining additional budget, the Client may extend the contract for a maximum 3 further periods of 12 months. Each extension shall be subject to internal review and approval and shall incorporate the support, maintenance, and upgrade/enhancement of the solution.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
12 500 000.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
48000000
48211000
48311000
48482000
72212510
48780000
48445000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKN
Main site or place of performance:
Northern Ireland
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) have the requirement to replace their current MyINI Customer Portal. The current MyINI Customer Portal was launched in 2017 and was delivered as an off shoot to Invest NI’s overall Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) strategic project. Invest NI is now seeking a long-term contract to develop a next generation MyINI Customer Portal that will remain tightly integrated with its existing back-office systems (as they continue to evolve) and become the indispensable channel for Invest NI’s digital customer engagement in tight coordination with our other customer interaction channels. It is envisaged that the Supplier will be appointed in December 2024 with ‘Go-Live’ (of at least Phase 1) no later than the January 2026. Contracting for the licensing, maintenance and support will be for an initial period of 4 years from Go-Live of Phase 1, following which there will be two optional extension periods of 3 years each (4 plus 3 plus 3 yrs). There will be a break point at the end of years 4, 7 and 10 and at least 6 months prior to their expiry the client will assess whether the solution is still fit for purpose and meets Invest NI’s needs. At the end of Optional Extension Period 2 (January 2036), subject to approval and obtaining additional budget, the Client may extend the contract for a maximum 3 further periods of 12 months. Each extension shall be subject to internal review and approval and shall incorporate the support, maintenance, and upgrade/enhancement of the solution.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion: AC1 Implementation Plan
/ Weighting: 6.86
Quality criterion: AC2 Design of Proposed Solution
/ Weighting: 6.86
Quality criterion: AC3 Creation, Validation Submission of Claims
/ Weighting: 6.86
Quality criterion: AC4 Optimising User Experience
/ Weighting: 6.86
Quality criterion: AC5 Configurability
/ Weighting: 4.41
Quality criterion: AC6 Management Vouching of Claims
/ Weighting: 3.92
Quality criterion: AC7 Data Architecture
/ Weighting: 3.43
Quality criterion: AC8 Security, Support and Maintenance
/ Weighting: 3.43
Quality criterion: AC9 Technical Architecture
/ Weighting: 3.43
Quality criterion: AC10 Timesheet Processing
/ Weighting: 2.94
Quality criterion: AC11 Implementation Team Experience
/ Weighting: 6.3
Quality criterion: AC12 Project Manager and/or Account Manager Experience
/ Weighting: 2.1
Quality criterion: AC13 UX/UI Resource
/ Weighting: 2.1
Quality criterion: AC14 Social Value
/ Weighting: 10.5
Cost criterion: AC15
/ Weighting: 30
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
The initial Contract period is intended to run for a period of 60 months from the date of Contract award. This includes an envisaged 12 month implementation period for Phase 1 and an initial period from Go-Live of Phase 1 of 48 months 4 years.It is envisaged that the Supplier will be appointed in December 2024 with ‘Go-Live’ of at least Phase 1 no later than the January 2026.Contracting for the licensing, maintenance support will be for an initial period of 4 years from Go-Live of Phase 1, following which therewill be two optional extension periods of 3 years each 4+3+3 yrs.There will be a break point at the end of years 4, 7 10 and at least 6 months prior to their expiry the client will assess whether thesolution is still fit for purpose and meets Invest NI’s needs. At the end of Optional Extension Period 2 Jan 2036, subject to approval obtaining additional budget, the Client may extend the contract for a maximum 3 further periods of 12 months. Each extension shall besubject to internal review and approval and shall incorporate the support, maintenance, and upgrade/enhancement of the solution.
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
Note the figure detailed is the maximum budget for the delivery of Phase 1 and Phase 2 up to year 10 is £7m including VAT. The figure indicated in II.1.5 represents a maximum contract value of £12,500,000.00 excluding VAT. This is a maximum figure that reflects the potential scale of the contract and takes into account delivery of Phase 3 of the project and all of the optional extension periods available. This maximum figure also takes account of any such changes to the scope/and or scale which may result from legislative, operational and. technological developments and/or additional functions and additional services that Invest NI may be required to provide during the. contract term. These figures do not however take into account the application of indexation to charges due to increases in charges due to increases in the Real Living Wage.
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 000-031854
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
08/04/2025
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 9
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 1
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 9
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Thornacre Engineering Ltd
Stonehaven, Little Chequers
Wye
TN25 5DX
UK
E-mail: parag@thornacre.com
NUTS: UK
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:
: 12 500 000.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
Contract monitoring: the successful contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored. 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 construction and procurement delivery. (CPD) for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period this may be considered grounds for termination of the contract at your expense as provided for in the Conditions of Contract. In lieu of termination, CPD may issue a Notice of Written Warning or a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance. A supplier in receipt of multiple. Notices of Written Warning or a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance may, in accordance with The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended), be excluded from future public procurement competitions for a period of up to three years.
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 (as amended)... 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
16/04/2025