Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom
Publication Ref: (2022/S 000-025508/EN)
Nature of contract: Service contract
Procedure: Award of a contract without prior publication
Type of bid required: Not applicable

Voluntary ex ante transparency notice
Services

Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Official name: Department of Justice
Postal address: c/o Construction Procurement Delivery, Clare House, 303 Airport Road West
Town: Belfast
Postal code: BT3 9ED
Country: United Kingdom
Email: justice.cpd@finance-ni.gov.uk
Internet address(es):
Main address:
Address of the buyer profile:

I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
General public services

Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title: Provision of Electronic Monitoring (EM) Services in Northern Ireland

Reference number: DoJ DAC 16/22
II.1.2) Main CPV code: 79710000
II.1.3) Type of contract Services
II.1.4) Short Description:
The Department of Justice (DoJ) will be awarding a short-term interim contract for the provision of services for Electronic Monitoring (EM) of offenders in Northern Ireland. The Department has statutory obligations under Article 35 of Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008, which provides for EM as a condition of court bail, post-release licence or range of community supervision orders for adults and young persons. The scope of EM is a public protection tool for both the judiciary and for criminal justice agencies monitoring offenders in the community.
II.1.6) Information about lots
The contract is divided into lots: no
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement(excluding VAT)
Value:2400000
Currency:GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.3) Place of performance
Nuts code: Main site or place of performance:As required throughout Northern Ireland.

II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Electronic tagging and monitoring services of offenders in Northern Ireland.

II.2.5) Award criteria
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
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 point 2 of the Annex D)
IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement(GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: yes
IV.2) Administrative information

Section V: Award of contract/concession
Contract No: DoJ DAC 16/22
Title: Provision of Electronic Monitoring (EM) Services in Northern Ireland

V.2) Award of contract/concession
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract/concession award decision:2022-09-06
V.2.2) Information about tenders
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Official name: Information withheld for security reasons
Town: Belfast
Country: United Kingdom
Nuts code:
The contractor is an SME: no

V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession(excluding VAT)
for framework agreements – total maximum value for this lot
for contracts based on framework agreements, if required – value of contract(s) for this lot not included in
previous contract award notices

Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information:
This VEAT is to give notice of the award decision and to commence a standstill period prior to award of contract. The contract award will not be entered into until 23rd September 2022 at the earliest.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Official name: See VI.4.3 / Review procedure
Town: See VI.4.3 / Review procedure
Country: United Kingdom

VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement competitions. Instead, any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to. which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Please contact CPD with any queries / issues.

VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice:
2022-09-12

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

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:
DoJ awarded a contract in 2018, which was terminated prior to going live. To ensure service continuity, DoJ extended the existing contract while a new competitive process was initiated in January 2020. Pre-market engagement responses were receipted early 2020 and about to be assessed when the COVID pandemic hit. The new process had to be put on hold immediately as DoJ and CPD resources were prioritised to COVID response activities. DoJ had to ensure delivery of business as usual for this critical service while working around constraints and working conditions imposed by the pandemic. The current contract is now due to expire in October 2022.
Provision of this service is a statutory requirement under the Criminal Justice (NI) Order 2008 and there are serious legal and public protection ramifications if it is not in place. Lack of service would significantly impact on the ability to manage the risk of those on bail or those who have been released subject to licence conditions, who are often released on the basis of an EM curfew being in place. In Northern Ireland, there is the added risk and profile of tagging high risk terrorist subjects, with substantial legal scrutiny and press interest in this matter.
There are derogations under the Public Contracts Regulations to award a contract where the supplies or services can only be supplied by a particular supplier for the following reasons: –
a) Where competition is absent for technical reasons (regulation 32(2) (b) (ii)); but only, where no reasonable alternative or substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement.
b) Regulation 32(5)(b) for additional deliveries by the original supplier which are intended either as a partial replacement of supplies or installations or as the extension of existing supplies or installations where a change of supplier would oblige the contracting authority to acquire supplies having different technical characteristics which would result in incompatibility or disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance.
The current service is very complex, high risk with serious legal ramifications if it fails e.g. adverse public protection outcomes, including in respect of terrorist related offenders; legal challenges and associated financial penalties for the department; ECHR and deprivation of liberty related issues where EM is not available to manage release on bail or licence.
There are high switching costs and high technical thresholds which require a significant period of testing to satisfy the Department and stakeholders that another provider could deliver the service to the required standard. This would include multiple field and breach reporting tests, equipment/hardware tests, process testing and interoperability with existing DOJ/CJO systems.
Pre-market engagement was completed to aid the new procurement process which identified a lack of awareness/understanding of the NI Criminal Justice system, and highlighted that a limited number of suppliers had any geographic footprint locally. This is a specialist and limited market.
As equipment and installations are a large proportion of the contract, retaining the incumbent is the only option. It will be VFM in that there is stable, quality service delivery that will ensure the Department can deliver its statutory obligations. There will be no requirement to purchase new equipment until the new contract is in place. Any other provider would have to bring in new equipment/new technology etc all of which would need to be robustly tested over time.
This will be an interim contract to ensure continuity of services while a tender process (already initiated) occurs. The anticipated go live date is 1st April 2024. The tender opportunity and Contract Notice will be advertised in FTS in due course.