VOLUNTARY EX ANTE TRANSPARENCY NOTICE

Section I: Contracting Authority/Entity

I.1)

Name, Address and Contact Point(s)

I.2)

Type of contracting Authority and Main Activity or Activities

Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions National or federal agency/Office Regional or local Authority Regional or local Agency/Office Body governed by public law European Institution/Agency or International Organisation

General public services Defence Public order and safety Environment Economic and financial affairs Health Housing and community amenities Social protection Recreation, culture and religion Education

Section II: Object of the Contract

II.1)

Description

II.1.1)

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority

Managed Telephony Agreement: Contract Number PR/34/2006.

II.1.2(a))

Type of works contract

II.1.2(b))

Type of supplies contract

II.1.2(c))

Type of service contract

II.1.2)

Main site or location of works, place of delivery or performance

UK.

II.1.3)

This notice involves a framework agreement

II.1.4)

Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

The subject matter of this voluntary ex ante transparency notice is the amendment to a managed telephony agreement awarded by the authority on 25.1.2006 (the “Agreement”). The Contracting Authority advertised its requirements for telephony services in a notice sent to the official journal of the European Union on 26.1.2005. The Agreement was awarded following the completion of a negotiated procurement procedure carried out pursuant to the requirements of the Public Services Contracts Regulations 1993 (No. 3228) (implementing Directive 92/50/EEC). The amendment provides that the Agreement:

a) is extended so as to expire on 30.11.2015 with an option in favour of the Contracting Authority to extend the Agreement by notice beyond 30.11.2015 by monthly extension periods up to the 31.3.2016 (a total maximum extension beyond its current term of 12 months);

b) is amended to remove as from 31.3.2015, certain benchmarking provisions and technology refresh obligations which the parties to the Agreement believe are no longer appropriate during the extension period; and

c) is amended to include an obligation on the Contracting Authority to meet certain limited costs which may arise as a result of this amendment.

(the “Amendment”)

The Amendment has been agreed in order to enable the Contracting Authority's completion of a new procurement exercise to replace the services under the Agreement.

II.1.5)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.1.6)

Contract covered by the government procurement agreement (GPA)

II.2)

Total final value of the contract(s)

II.2.1)

Total final value of the contract(s)

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)

Type of procedure

IV.1.1)

Type of procedure

IV.2)

Award criteria

IV.2.1)

Award criteria

IV.2.2)

An electronic auction has been used

IV.3)

Administrative information

IV.3.1)

File reference number attributed by the contracting authority

CCN15

IV.3.2)

Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

Other previous publications

Section V: Award of contract

Contract No:

 Lot Number: 

 Title: 

V.1)

Date of contract award decision:

V.2)

Numbers of offers received:

V.3)

Name and address of economic operator to whom the contract has been awarded

V.4)

Information on value of contract

V.5)

The contract is likely to be subcontracted

Short description of the value/proportion of the contract to be subcontracted

Section VI: Complementary Information

VI.1)

Contract related to a project and/or programme financed by community funds?

VI.2)

Additional Information

VI.3)

Procedures for appeal

VI.3.1)

Body responsible for appeal procedures

Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.3.2)

Lodging of appeals

VI.3.3)

Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

VI.4)

Dispatch date of this Notice

Annex D1 – General procurement

Justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)
Directive 2004/18/EC

a) No tenders or no appropriate tenders in response to:

	Open procedure
	Restricted procedure

b) The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development under the conditions stated in the Directive (for supplies only).

c) The works/goods/services can be provided only by a particular tenderer for reasons that are:

	Technical
	Artistic
	Connected with the protection of exclusive rights

d) Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

e) Additional works/deliveries/services are ordered under the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

f) New works/services, constituting a repetition of existing works/services and ordered in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

g)Service contract awarded to the successful candidate or one of them after a design contest.

h) For supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity market.

i) For the purchase of supplies on particularly advantageous terms:

	from a supplier which is definitely winding up its business activities
	from the receivers or liquidators of a bankruptcy, an arrangement with creditors or a similar procedure.

j) All tenders submitted in reply to an open procedure, a restricted procedure or competitive dialogue were irregular or unacceptable. Only those tenderers were included in the negotiations which have satisfied the qualitative selection criteria.

Other justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the OJEU:

k) The contract has as its object services listed in Annex B of Directive 2004/18/EC or in Annex XVII B of Directive 2004/17/EC

l) The contract falls outside the scope of application of the relevant directive.

In addition to the box(es) ticked above please explain in a clear and comprehensive manner why the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the OJEU is lawful, stating in any case the relevant facts, and, as appropriate, the conclusions of law in accordance with the articles in the relevant Directive (500 words maximum):

The Contracting Authority considers that the nature of the Amendment as more particularly described in paragraph II.1.4) does not represent a material amendment so as to amount to the award of a new agreement. The Contracting Authority has come to this conclusion based upon its consideration of certain jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union in particular the decision of the Court in the case of Pressetext v Republik Österreich (Bund) and others [2008] EUECJ C-454/06. As noted the Amendment includes an increase in the term of the Agreement by the inclusion of a further extension period of 8 months up to a maximum of a 12 months, certain minor changes to the obligations of the parties and the inclusion of an obligation to meet certain costs which might arise as a result of the Amendment. The Contracting Authority has considered the nature and scope of the initial procurement exercise and the Agreement and has concluded that the changes envisaged by the Amendment are not material. Accordingly, the agreement of the Amendment does not represent the award of a public services contract under Directive 2004/18/EC.