CONTRACT NOTICE – NATIONAL

1 Authority Details

1.1

Authority Name and Address

1.2

Address from which documentation may be obtained

1.3

Completed documents must be returned to:

2 Contract Details

2.1

Title

Expenses Management Platform Requirements

2.2

Description of the goods or services required

Careers Wales is a public sector organisation that provides careers information, advice and guidance to people of all ages in Wales. We help our customers to make informed choices about their education, training and work options. We have a network of offices and centres across Wales, and we deliver our services through various channels, including face-to-face, telephone, webchat, email and social media.

As part of our operations, we have to manage the expenses claims of our staff members, who often travel to different locations and incur various costs, such as mileage, accommodation, meals, parking, etc. Our manual systems to process these claims is inefficient, time-consuming, error-prone and costly. We are looking for a new expenses management platform that can automate and streamline our expenses processes, and provide us with better visibility and oversight of our spend.

Careers Wales workforce consists of approx. 600 staff and process approx. 300 claims per month.

Contract value: £100,000 approximately, over a 3 year period, with a 1 year extension.

1. Tenders for this work can be submitted in Welsh

2. Tenders submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than those submitted in English.

3. The closing dates for the Tender will be the same for those submitted in Welsh and English

4. The timetable for responding to the bids in Welsh will be the same as those submitted in English

NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=144345.

The buyer has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via the Postbox facility. A user guide is available at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/sitehelp/help_guides.aspx.

Suppliers are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems.

2.3

Notice Coding and Classification

2.4

Total quantity or scope of tender

This document outlines the needs for a new expenses management platform that should offer us the features and functionalities that will enhance our efficiency, productivity, staff satisfaction, and lower our costs and risks.

3 Conditions for Participation

3.1

Minimum standards and qualification required

We are seeking a new expenses management platform that can provide us with the following features and functionalities:

Essential Requirements

Hosting:

The product must be web based SaaS / Cloud hosted, with data stored in the UK/EEA locale to ensure compliance with Careers Wales data protection and security regulations. An accompanying mobile app is desirable.

Accessibility:

The platform should conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - WCAG 2.x

User Experience:

The platform must be user friendly, and offer a web-based and mobile interface (desirable), to allow staff members to easily and conveniently upload and submit their receipts and claims, and track their status and progress.

It must integrate with Azure to support Single Sign-on, and with Microsoft 365 (Outlook/Excel) to facilitate data exchange and communication.

The initial stage of input should have a mechanism for highlighting errors to the employee user based on travel policy parameters (such as allowable expenses for food, total annual mileage limits and home to work journeys).

It should validate and verify the claims and receipts, and check for any errors, inconsistencies, duplicates, or anomalies. It should also flag any claims that exceed the limits or thresholds, or that do not comply with the expenses policy and rules.

Approval Flow:

It must manage an approval flow, and allow staff members to select their line managers (or alternative line manager in case of absence) approvers, and send them notifications and reminders. It should also allow line managers to review and approve or reject the claims, and provide feedback or comments.

Where possible, it should include an acknowledgement sent to the employee to state that the Manager has authorised and submitted their claim.

Reporting and Analytics:

It should provide dashboards or reports suite to allow staff, managers and the finance department to see the status of claims.

It should allow the finance department to report, filter, sort, and export claims data (in CSV format to allow import to our payroll system) by various criteria, such as categories, periods, departments, or individuals.

It should report on the types and amounts of claims, such as mileage, hotels, meals, etc. It should also identify and highlight the top spenders, and the areas of improvement or savings.

Support and implementation:

The provider should offer a demonstration of the product and proof of concept trial.

Transparent and competitive pricing.

Prompt and reliable support is essential.

The provider should offer onboarding training and documentation to ensure a smooth and successful implementation and adoption.

4 Administrative Information

4.1

Type of Procedure

Single stage

4.2

Reference number attributed to the notice by the contracting authority

N/a

4.3

Time Limits

4.5

Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate can be drawn up

4.6

Tender Submission Postbox

5 Other Information

5.1

Additional Information

Product Demonstrations:

A maximum of 5 suppliers will be invited to demonstrate the product to evidence against criteria that will be provided.

(WA Ref:144345)

5.2

Additional Documentation

5.3

Publication date of this notice