University of Leicester: Provision of a Research Information Management System

UK-Leicester: Industry specific software package.

Preliminary Questions
   This notice is published by:
   Directive 2014/24/EU

Section I: Contracting authority/entity

I.1) Name and addresses
       University of Leicester
       University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 1162522452, Email: naomi.nortey@le.ac.uk
       Contact: Naomi Nortey
       Main Address: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/purchasing, Address of the buyer profile: www.le.ac.uk
       NUTS Code: UKF

I.4) Type of the contracting authority (in the case of a notice published by a contracting authority)
      Body governed by public law

I.5) Main Activity (in the case of a notice published by a contracting authority)
      Education


Section II: Object

II.1) Scope of the procurement
   
   II.1.1) Title: Provision of a Research Information Management System.
      Reference number: LUV00994
      
   II.1.2) Main CPV code:
      48100000 - Industry specific software package.
   
   II.1.3) Type of contract: SUPPLIES
   
   II.1.4) Short Description: The proposed contract is for the supply and implementation of an end-to-end commercial off the shelf Research Information Management System (RIMS) for the University. The system will provide University Researchers, Professional Services staff, College staff and University Senior Management, with a suite of easily accessible tools within one platform to manage, track progress, monitor and report University pipelines, portfolios and history of research and enterprise activities.
   
   II.1.6) Information about lots
      This contract is divided into lots: No

   II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
      Value: 1,608,871      
      Currency: GBP


II.2) Description

   II.2.2) Additional CPV codes:
      Not provided

   II.2.3) Place of performance:
      UKF EAST MIDLANDS (ENGLAND)
   
   
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:
    Research and Enterprise at the University is currently managed via a complex set of disparate, legacy systems, resulting in inconsistencies in processes and systems used to manage research and related information and data at the University. This results in resource data quality issues with no golden source of information. There is a need to consolidate this information, providing the University with the tools to compete for external funding, manage awards and give effective oversight of performance and risks associated with research and enterprise activities across the Research lifecycle. Procuring an end-to-end readily available system, will transform the University’s business model and enhance output at all levels of the institution providing transparency and visibility of research information and data, enabling accurate, timely decision making.    
   
   II.2.5) Award criteria
   (Directive 2014/24/EU / Directive 2014/25/EU)
               
    Not provided       
      
      
   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 Period: The University proposes to enter into a contract for 10 Years
Initial contract period of 5 years with an option to extend up to a further 5 years.

If you have any queries regarding this notice please contact naomi.nortey@leicester.ac.uk and copy in procurement@leicester.ac.uk    
      
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         
   
   IV.1.3) Information about framework agreement
         The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement: 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:
      Notice number in OJ S: Not provided       
   
Section V: Award Of Contract/Concession
      
Award of Contract/Concession No: 1
Contract No: LUV00994   Lot Number: Not Provided    Title: Not Provided

V.2) Award of contract/concession
      
      V.2.1) Date of contract award decision: 28/06/2021.
      
      V.2.2) Information about tenders
      The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No .

      V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire, No. 1:
          WorkTribe Ltd, 04576074
       4 Castle Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 1FB, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 8700201760
       Internet address: https://www.worktribe.com/
       NUTS Code: UKF1
   The contractor/concessionaire will be an SME: Yes    
   
         
      V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession:
         Initial estimated total value of the contract: 1,608,871          
         Total value of the contract/lot/concession 1,608,871         
         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=606178575
GO-2021629-PRO-18479375 TKR-2021629-PRO-18479374   
   VI.4) Procedures for review
   
      VI.4.1) Review Body
          University of Leicester
       University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 1162522452
   
      V1.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures:
                University of Leicester
       University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom.

      VI.4.3) Review procedure
      Not Provided    
      
      VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
          University of Leicester
       Leicester, United Kingdom
   
   VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 29/06/2021


Annex D1 - General Procurement
Justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union
Directive 2014/24/EU


2. Other justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union

   The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive: Yes

3. Explanation

   Please explain in a clear and comprehensive manner why the award of the contract without prior publication in the Official Journal of the European Union is
   lawful, by stating the relevant facts and, as appropriate, the conclusions of law in accordance with the directive: (500 words maximum)
   Negotiated procedure without prior publication

The works, supplies of services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason: absence of competition for technical reasons.

Explanation: The University of Leicester has completed research of the market, engaging with staff and other institutions with a similar requirement for an off the shelf, ready to use, end to end functionality for the volumes and complexity of research undertaken by the University. This market research concluded that there is just one vendor whose product has proven functionality, tested within the HE Sector, required by the University to support standardisation of processes. Products from other vendors were reviewed during soft market testing, but only Worktribe provided all relevant functionality on a single platform through a user centric interface. The University requires the complete research lifecycle to be integrated in a single platform, from Pre-Award to Post-Award, to Contract Management. Only the Worktribe platform provides fully integrated workflows and capability. Below are a list of concerns with other systems raised through the soft market testing:

-Poor user experience, with the need for data to be re-keyed or uploaded across multiple systems.
-Not able to manage the complexity, size and scale of the University’s Research portfolio.
- Only manage one aspect of the scope of the requirement, which would result in multiple purchases and integrations.
-Complex, unproven integrations would be required.
-Development of a suitable product would be required to fulfil the full scope of the University’s requirement, incl. testing and user acceptance time and effort. The time required for this development would go beyond what should be reasonably expected for such a procurement/ implementation.

Technical: The University’s key technical requirements are:
a. Architectural fit within the University’s current and strategic digital landscape
b .Feasibility and ease of migration from an in-house bespoke system for pre-award costing hosted on the University legacy ERP platform,
c. Maintaining seamless access to historic data,
d. Establishing manageable and future proofed integrations with the University’s core ERP;
e. Straight forward ongoing data extraction for Management Information and BI to the University’s Microsoft based Data warehouse/Analytics platform.

Worktribe is the only end to end solution with the architectural alignment and simple implementation path (supported by the legacy ERP vendor/partners) to achieve these technical requirements.

The result of the market research undertaken by the University has concluded that the Worktribe pre-award, post-award and contract management single platform is the only practical solution, readily available to meet the functional and technical needs, timescale and complexity of the University requirements.