Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
Torfaen County Borough Council
Civic Centre, Pontypool
Torfaen
NP4 6YB
UK
Contact person: Stephen Chambers
Telephone: +44 1495762200
E-mail: stephen.chambers@torfaen.gov.uk
NUTS: UKL16
Internet address(es)
Main address: www.torfaen.gov.uk
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA0498
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
I.5) Main activity
Education
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Torfaen County Borough Council Schools Information Management System (SIMS)
II.1.2) Main CPV code
72000000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Transition from existing contractual model of perpetual licence of SIMS to local authority with associated support services, to software as a service model contracting directly with individual schools to provide SIMS and associated support services.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
9 105.44
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
72260000
72268000
72261000
72300000
72310000
72320000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKL16
Main site or place of performance:
Torfaen
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Prior to the award of these contracts, the current provider -ESS- had a contract with the local authority under which it provided a perpetual licence to the local authority for the purpose of providing SIMS to the schools in the local authority's area, with associated support services.
ESS has now served notice to terminate that contract and requires that, in order to continue provision of SIMS, individual schools must enter into direct contracts with ESS to receive SIMS as software as a service.
In order to bring about the transition, the local authority will enter into a Facilitation Agreement "FA" with ESS under which nothing of value is received by ESS and no material services are provided to the local authority; it is purely an administrative arrangement to effect the transition. Each school in the local authority's area will enter into a School Contract "SC" with ESS for the direct provision of SIMS as software as a service, at substantially the same cost as before.
The highest value SC is 9105.44GBP and the lowest value SC is 615.06GBP.
The schools in the local authority's area whose governing bodies will enter into contracts with ESS are as follows:
Abersychan Comprehensive School
Alternative Home Tuition
Blaenavon Heritage VC Primary School
Blenheim Road Community Primary School
Coed Eva Primary
Croesyceiliog Primary
Croesyceliog Comprehensive School
Crownbridge Special School
Cwmbran High School
Cwmbran RC Primary School
Cwmffrwdoer Primary School
Garnteg Primary School
George Street Primary & Nursery School
Green Meadow Primary School
Griffithstown Primary School
Henllys JI School
Llantarnam Community Primary School
Llanyrafon Primary School
Maendy Primary School
Nant Celyn Primary School
New Inn Primary School
Padre Pio RC Primary
Penygarn Primary School
Ponthir Church in Wales Primary School
Pontnewydd JI School
St Albans RC Comprehensive School
St Davids RC JI School
West Monmouth Comprehensive School
Woodlands Community Primary School
Ysgol Bryn Onnen
Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw
Ysgol Gymraeg Cwmbran
Ysgol Panteg
The local authority publishes this notice on behalf of itself and the schools listed above but is not acting as a central purchasing body on behalf of the schools.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion: Ability to continue to provide SIMS
/ Weighting: 50
Price
/ Weighting:
50
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
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
Contract duration: 36 months
The FA has no value
Individual SCs have a value between 9105.44.GBP and 615.06GBP
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition
Justification for selected award procedure:
The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the Directive
Explanation
This contract award notice is intended to be a relevant contract award notice pursuant to Reg. 93(2), (3) and (4) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. It is published on a wholly voluntary basis and without prejudice to the local authority's and the governing body of each individual school's position that no prior publication of a contract notice, and thus no competitive tender exercise, was required in respect of the Facilitation Agreement (FA) and/or the individual Schools Contracts (SC).
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
Section V: Award of contract
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
25/03/2022
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 0
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: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Education Software Solutions Limited
11 Kingsley Lodge, 13 New Cavendish Street
London
W1G9UG
UK
Telephone: +44 7999709125
NUTS: UKI
The contractor is an SME:
No
V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot:
: 9 105.44
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
Further or in the alternative, neither the FA nor the individual SCs are subject to a requirement to carry out prior publication of a contract notice and/or any form of competitive tender, because the services can only be provided by one particular economic operator (ESS), because competition is absent for technical reasons pursuant to Reg. 32(2)(b)(ii) of the 2015 Regulations. This is because all of the schools in the local authority's area currently use ESS' SIMS product. It would take a minimum of 6 weeks to transition from ESS' SIMS product to another product, including implementation, testing, training staff and migration of data. To avoid serious disruption to the school's functions, that transition has to take place over the long summer holidays. ESS served 90 days' notice to terminate the current arrangements, shortly before Christmas 2021. It would therefore not be possible, in the timescales imposed by ESS, for schools to tender for and purchase an alternative product and transition to it, without suffering serious disruption to essential services which would affect the ability of schools to continue to function and which may require schools to close.
Further or in the alternative, neither the FA nor the individual SCs are subject to a requirement to carry out prior publication of a contract notice and/or any form of competitive tender, because of urgency pursuant to Reg. 32(2)(c) of the 2015 Regulations. The provision of an information management system is essential to the running of a school and a school cannot function without it. The notice to terminate the current contracts and the short timescale imposed by ESS were unforeseen by the local authority and the schools. Due to the short notice given by ESS, together with the time it would take to prepare and agree a specification and (following a tender exercise) to transition to a new product, the timescales for the open or restricted procedure, or competitive procedure with negotiation, cannot be complied with in the time available.
It is intended in the future to advertise a competitive tender exercise for SIMS on an all-Wales basis, with award and transition to the new contracts resulting from such tender to coincide with the end of the 3-year term of the SCs entered into with ESS. Pre-tender market testing is likely to commence in the near future.
(WA Ref:120676)
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
High Court
Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
UK
Telephone: +44 2079477501
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
22/04/2022