The Student Loans Company Limited: Avaya Hardware and Licences

UK-Glasgow: Telephone network.

Section I: Contracting Authority

   I.1) Name, Addresses and Contact Point(s):
       Student Loans Company
       100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 1413062000, Email: commercia@slc.co.uk
       Main Address: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/student-loans-company
       NUTS Code: UKM82

   I.2) Joint procurement:
      The contract involves joint procurement: No          
      In the case of joint procurement involving different countries, state applicable national procurement law: Not Provided
      The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body: No

   I.4)Type of the contracting authority:
      Body governed by public law

   I.5) Main activity:
      Education

Section II: Object Of The Contract

   II.1) Scope of the procurement

      II.1.1) Title: Avaya Hardware and Licences            
      Reference number: 2020-509

      II.1.2) Main CPV code:
         32551400 - Telephone network.


      II.1.3) Type of contract: SUPPLIES

      II.1.4) Short description: Provision of hardware and software to support the need as a consequence of COVID to support call centre staff working from home

      II.1.6) Information about lots
         This contract is divided into lots: No
            
      II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
          Value: 307,000
                  
         Currency:GBP            

   II.2) Description

      II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):
      Not Provided

      II.2.3) Place of performance
      Nuts code:
      UKM82 - Glasgow City
   
      Main site or place of performance:
      Glasgow City
             

      II.2.4) Description of the procurement: Provision of hardware, licensing and support for a solution to enable call handling from home.

      II.2.5) Award criteria:
      Quality criterion - Name: Ability to provide requirements with timescale / Weighting: 90
                  
      Price - Weighting: 10
            

      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: Not Provided


Section IV: Procedure

IV.1) Description

   IV.1.1)Type of procedure: Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below (please complete Annex D1)


   IV.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
      The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement: No       
      

   IV.1.6) Information about electronic auction
      An electronic auction has been used: No

   IV.1.8) Information about the 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
       Not Provided
   

   IV.2.9) Information about termination of call for competition in the form of a prior information notice
      The contracting authority will not award any further contracts based on the above prior information notice: No

Section V: Award of contract

Award Of Contract (No.1)

   Contract No: 2020-509    
   Lot Number: Not Provided    
   Title: Not Provided

   A contract/lot is awarded: Yes


   V.2) Award of contract

      V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract: 30/06/2020

      V.2.2) Information about tenders
         Number of tenders received: 1
         Number of tenders received from SMEs: Not Provided          
         Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: Not Provided          
         Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: Not Provided          
         Number of tenders received by electronic means: Not Provided

      V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor

      The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
         
         Contractor (No.1)
             Virgin Media Business, 01785381
             500 Brook Drive, Reading, RG2 6UU, United Kingdom
             NUTS Code: UKJ11
            The contractor is an SME: No

      V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
         Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: 307,000          
         Total value of the contract/lot: 307,000
         Currency: GBP

      V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
         The contract is likely to be subcontracted: No
         
Section VI: Complementary information

   VI.3) Additional information: To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=538127897

   VI.4) Procedures for review

      VI.4.1) Review body
          High Court
          Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2A 2LL, United Kingdom

      VI.4.3) Review procedure
         Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures: Not Provided

      VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
         Not Provided

   VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 27/10/2020




ANNEX D

   1. Justification for the choice of the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a call for competition in accordance with Article 32 of Directive 2014/24/EU

      No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to: Not Provided

      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): No       
      
      The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason: No

      Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive: Yes

      Additional deliveries by the original supplier ordered under the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

      
      
      Procurement of supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity market: No

      Purchase of supplies or services on particularly advantageous terms: No


   3. Explanation
          SLC require a telephony solution capable of handling the anticipated call volumes that our peak processing period will produce. Our working at home solution proved not to be able to support the volume of calls that are experienced during this peak period. This would lead to an inability for SLC to deliver all services to its customers.

This requirement is necessary in relation to events unforeseen due to COVID. SLC had planned for it's current solution to be replaced towards the end of 2020. It became apparent however, as calls begin to increase, that a new solution is required by end of July. The use of the current system caused issues and was not allowing staff to answer calls and service customer needs. Staff are working to support customers through a peak period in relation to student finance and without a new solution in place immediately we would not be able to support this via home working.

This was unforeseen, with expectations that working from home would not be at the levels required during this peak period. Testing has been undertaken on the current solution to understand how it would support the volumes expected and this has demonstrated that a new solution is necessary.

SLC was unable to predict the impact that would be required to address the resulting changes to the working environment, the need to comply with social distancing and isolation in place which resulted in a step change to the way offices and workplaces across the world now have to operate. As it will now be necessary for staff to work from home longer than anticipated, it is important that correct systems are in place to ensure support is maintained for our customers.

Given the business criticality of providing support for students, it is imperative that SLC have a reliable way of ensuring its customers can access support.