British Business Bank Plc: Investment Management System ("IMS")

UK-Sheffield: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support.

Section I: Contracting Authority

   I.1) Name, Addresses and Contact Point(s):
       British Business Bank
       Steel City House, Steel City House, 2 West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 1142127877, Email: procurement@british-business-bank.co.uk
       Contact: Procurement
       Main Address: www.british-business-bank.co.uk
       NUTS Code: UKE32

   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:
      Economic and financial affairs

Section II: Object Of The Contract

   II.1) Scope of the procurement

      II.1.1) Title: Investment Management System ("IMS")            
      Reference number: Not Provided

      II.1.2) Main CPV code:
         72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support.


      II.1.3) Type of contract: SERVICES

      II.1.4) Short description: The Authority has awarded an investment management system (“IMS”) contract ("Contract") to BlackRock, relying on the exemption in Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication, on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons. The IMS will allow the Authority to manage the full investment administration cycle of its debt and equity portfolio (“Portfolio”). The Contract covers implementation, migration support, professional services, licensing, and maintenance.

      II.1.6) Information about lots
         This contract is divided into lots: No
            
      II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
          Value: 890,000
                  
         Currency:GBP            

   II.2) Description

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

      II.2.3) Place of performance
      Nuts code:
      UK - UNITED KINGDOM
   
      Main site or place of performance:
      UNITED KINGDOM
             

      II.2.4) Description of the procurement: The Authority has awarded an investment management system (“IMS”) contract ("Contract") to BlackRock, relying on the exemption in Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication, on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons. The IMS will allow the Authority to manage the full investment administration cycle of its debt and equity portfolio (“Portfolio”). The Contract covers implementation, migration support, professional services, licensing, and maintenance. The Authority considered that the Contract can be supplied only by BlackRock through its eFront Invest solution, as BlackRock is uniquely able to provide certain mandatory requirements of the Authority's specification. The Authority reached that conclusion after the following due diligence process: •Engagement of an external consultancy with expertise in this area to prepare a market analysis of options available against the Authority’s service requirements and technical specification •An “RFI” was undertaken with a shortlist of suppliers identified by the external consultancy (“Suppliers”) to understand the technical capability and compatibility of the systems with the Authority’s mandatory requirements and the unique breadth of its Portfolio both in its current and future state •An options report was prepared by the external consultancy which identified eFront Invest as the only solution able to meet the Authority’s mandatory requirements, specifically in relation to fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio •The Authority’s business architect completed a comparative analysis of the Suppliers’ sample offerings. This analysis concluded that eFront Invest offers a solution that can support the Portfolio, and that it has inbuilt functionality to support fee and waterfall modelling, flagging that these are mandatory requirements This due diligence established that alternative suppliers could not meet the Authority’s mandatory requirements. Specifically, BlackRock is uniquely able to provide fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration, and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio. Moreover, the only available alternatives to eFront Invest would have incurred unacceptable operational and accuracy risks including: •incurring operational and data accuracy risks due to managing multiple software solutions and using manual data entry input •A disaggregated solution increasing the risk of error •Inability to deliver on reporting and wider obligations to UK Government •The incompatibility of the alternative solutions to the Authority’s underlying infrastructure could have impacted the traceability and transparency levels required to meet audit and reporting requirements which could also have incurred reputational risk •The lack of a full-service solution across all current and future requirements would have created the need to maintain and potentially increase manual steps and End User Computing Solutions outside operational risk tolerance The Authority is confident that for the outlined reasons no reasonable alternative or substitute exists to eFront Invest. The Authority is also confident that its specification is reasonable and was not been artificially narrowed or constructed in such a way that only eFront Invest would be able to meet its requirements.

      II.2.5) Award criteria:
                  
      Price - 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: A VEAT notice 2023/S 000-008087 was previously published in relation to this contract


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: No

IV.2) Administrative information

   IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
       Notice number in the OJEU: 2023/S 000-008087
      
   

   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: Investment Management System ("IMS")

   A contract/lot is awarded: Yes


   V.2) Award of contract

      V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract: 31/03/2023

      V.2.2) Information about tenders
         Number of tenders received: 1
         Number of tenders received from SMEs: 0 (SME - as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC)          
         Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: 0          
         Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 1          
         Number of tenders received by electronic means: 1

      V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor

      The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
         
         Contractor (No.1)
             eFront Limited, 03650489
             12 Throgmorton Avenue, London, United Kingdom
             NUTS Code: UK
            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: Not Provided          
         Total value of the contract/lot: 890,000
         Currency: GBP

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

   VI.3) Additional information: A VEAT notice 2023/S 000-008087 was previously published in relation to this contract
To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=773905003

   VI.4) Procedures for review

      VI.4.1) Review body
          High Court of Justice
          London, United Kingdom

      VI.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures
          N/A
          N/A, 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
          N/A
          N/A, United Kingdom

   VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 05/04/2023




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 Authority has awarded an investment management system (“IMS”) contract ("Contract") to BlackRock, relying on the exemption in Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication, on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons. The IMS will allow the Authority to manage the full investment administration cycle of its debt and equity portfolio (“Portfolio”). The Contract covers implementation, migration support, professional services, licensing, and maintenance. The Authority considered that the Contract can be supplied only by BlackRock through its eFront Invest solution, as BlackRock is uniquely able to provide certain mandatory requirements of the Authority's specification. The Authority reached that conclusion after the following due diligence process: •Engagement of an external consultancy with expertise in this area to prepare a market analysis of options available against the Authority’s service requirements and technical specification •An “RFI” was undertaken with a shortlist of suppliers identified by the external consultancy (“Suppliers”) to understand the technical capability and compatibility of the systems with the Authority’s mandatory requirements and the unique breadth of its Portfolio both in its current and future state •An options report was prepared by the external consultancy which identified eFront Invest as the only solution able to meet the Authority’s mandatory requirements, specifically in relation to fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio •The Authority’s business architect completed a comparative analysis of the Suppliers’ sample offerings. This analysis concluded that eFront Invest offers a solution that can support the Portfolio, and that it has inbuilt functionality to support fee and waterfall modelling, flagging that these are mandatory requirements This due diligence established that alternative suppliers could not meet the Authority’s mandatory requirements. Specifically, BlackRock is uniquely able to provide fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration, and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio. Moreover, the only available alternatives to eFront Invest would have incurred unacceptable operational and accuracy risks including: •incurring operational and data accuracy risks due to managing multiple software solutions and using manual data entry input •A disaggregated solution increasing the risk of error •Inability to deliver on reporting and wider obligations to UK Government •The incompatibility of the alternative solutions to the Authority’s underlying infrastructure could have impacted the traceability and transparency levels required to meet audit and reporting requirements which could also have incurred reputational risk •The lack of a full-service solution across all current and future requirements would have created the need to maintain and potentially increase manual steps and End User Computing Solutions outside operational risk tolerance The Authority is confident that for the outlined reasons no reasonable alternative or substitute exists to eFront Invest. The Authority is also confident that its specification is reasonable and was not been artificially narrowed or constructed in such a way that only eFront Invest would be able to meet its requirements.