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Find a TenderAwarded without competitionTransparency notice
Published 1 Jul 2026, 12:39 BST

Official UK procurement notice

CORE development services 2026

Official notice

Authority: OPEN UNIVERSITY(THE) (Education)

Direct award
Sectors: IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Awarded value£500,000published award · exc. VAT
Award in standstill Not publishedno call for competition
Award (standstill) to Qubit Labs OÜ

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Service development capacity, in the form of software development and associated activities, to support the CORE project:

CORE hosts the world's largest collection of open access research outputs, which are used and referenced by people globally, including researchers, libraries, software developers,

funders.

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Awarded
72230000 Custom software development services

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Direct award
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Notice status
Awarded without competition
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Direct award (no call for competition)
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
1 Jul 2026, 12:39 BST
Last source update
1 Jul 2026, 12:39 BST
Authority reference
OUPA10627
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-061685
Latest notice
Transparency notice (UK5)
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c128 Find a Tender
Why no open competition
Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
Published justification

The Open University (OU) intends to award a one (1) year agreement to Qubit Labs to provide software development and associated activities, to support the CORE OU project.

The CORE code base contains more than 250k lines of code Qubit personnel have the required training, expertise and specialist knowledge to operate and develop the CORE

infrastructure. The cost and time to upskill another company to the level required precludes the award of the contract to a company other than Qubit.

Notice history

2 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 1 Jul 2026
  1. Transparency notice published
    1 Jul 2026, 12:39 BST
    UK5
  2. Contract signature expected
    31 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
    scheduled

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1some still in standstill
Awarded value £500,0001 award exc. VAT
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Qubit Labs OÜCORE Development Services1 Aug 2026 – 31 Jul 2027£500,000—Standstill

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-CHC: RC000391 Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, South East, MK7 6AAContact email

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • Qubit Labs OÜAwarded supplierGB-PPON: PJDT-6796-PBTZ Sepapaja, 6, Tallinn, EE, 15551, EEContact email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Transparency notice awardTransparency noticeUK5Transparency notice on Find a Tender