Description of how these justifications apply
In accordance with Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023, a direct award is justified to Imaginet as the existing supplier, due to the absence of competition for technical reasons and there is no reasonable alternative currently.
In accordance with Schedule 5:
Section 7 - The public contract concerns the supply of goods, services or works by the existing supplier which are intended as an extension to, or partial replacement of, existing goods, services or works in circumstances where—
(a) a change in supplier would result in the contracting authority receiving goods, services or works that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing goods, services or works, and
(b) the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance.
The supplier has developed the TfW passenger application, as a bespoke solution and the application IP is owned by TfW, however the content management IP is owned by the supplier. No other supplier can provide a comparable solution at this time:
1) within the required timescales
2) without causing significant disruption to the business and passengers
3)) without undermining the delivery of value for money at a critical stage of technological development.
The renewal of this maintenance and support agreement is essential to ensure passengers continue to have the ability to book tickets via the app and that this service provisions continues uninterrupted to avoid disruption to an essential public transport service.
During the term of this new agreement, further investment to support the completion of 'in flight' development is necessary and further limited essential development to support passenger use of the application.