Royal Holloway and Bedford New College : Agent Channel Student Recruitment Services

UK-Egham: Higher education services.

Section I: Contracting Authority

   I.1) Name, Addresses and Contact Point(s):
       Royal Holloway and Bedford New College
       Egham Hill, Egham, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 1784917645, Email: procurement@rhul.ac.uk
       Main Address: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/
       NUTS Code: UKI

   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: Agent Channel Student Recruitment Services            
      Reference number: RHUL-23029

      II.1.2) Main CPV code:
         80300000 - Higher education services.


      II.1.3) Type of contract: SERVICES

      II.1.4) Short description: Management of Agent Channel student recruitment for the university, and the admission of these students in the majority of territories the university operates in

      II.1.6) Information about lots
         This contract is divided into lots: No
            
      II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
          Value: 25,000,000
                  
         Currency:GBP            

   II.2) Description

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

      II.2.3) Place of performance
      Nuts code:
      UKI - LONDON
   
      Main site or place of performance:
      LONDON
             

      II.2.4) Description of the procurement: The exclusive third-party provider of the Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions Solution to International Students on behalf of the University recruited through the agent channel with the exclusion of Australia, New Zealand, North America and Western Europe

      II.2.5) Award criteria:
      Quality criterion - Name: Please see Annex D / Weighting: 100
                  
      Cost criterion - Name: Please see Annex D / Weighting: 100
            

      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: Not Provided    
   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: 11/09/2022

      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)
             Study Group Limited, 02325576
             Brighton Study Centre 1, Billinton Way, Brighton, BN1 4LF, United Kingdom
             NUTS Code: UKJ21
            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: 25,000,000          
         Total value of the contract/lot: 25,000,000
         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=715078701

   VI.4) Procedures for review

      VI.4.1) Review body
          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: 12/09/2022




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

      Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

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

      New works/services, constituting a repetition of existing works/services and ordered in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive: No
            Service contract to be awarded to the winner or one of winners under the rules of a design contest: No
      

      Purchase of supplies or services on particularly advantageous terms: No


   3. Explanation
          The contract value is gross of onwards agent commission and taxes and provides target levels for increased international student recruitment of over the contract duration, including certain minimum guaranteed financial performance levels in the first two Academic Years of the contract.

Increasing overseas student recruitment immediately is critical to the success of our strategic vision. The University currently contracts with 100 different agents across the world, all of whom have contracts with Study Group for the recruitment of students to the Royal Holloway University of London International Study Centre (operated in collaboration with Study Group). Study Group in turn works with circa 2,900 agents worldwide. Contracting with Study Group Limited to provide the majority of our agent-based recruitment activity will deliver an immediate and substantial increase in scale without the need for additional training of staff or agents.

It is our view that it is not possible for another provider to achieve the required performance in the timescale required which would deliver the immediate increase in scale of this contract for Agent Channel recruitment. The University’s pathway programmes are run by Study Group Limited who operate out of the University’s premises and with whom the University already has a long-standing and established working relationship developed over the past 10 years. The University considers that Study Group has the specific expertise at its disposal to deliver the service, given that it already has a dedicated admissions team and sales and marketing resources located in over 40 global locations devoted to the recruitment of students for the University via the Royal Holloway University of London International Study Centre and the necessary systems in place to be able to deliver the services seamlessly without the need for further training.

The Negotiated Procedure Without Prior Publication has been utilised for the above reasons. It is expected that any future requirement for this service after the end of this contract will be openly procured if the approach is successful and the market for these services has matured.