Find a TenderAwarded

Published 7 Feb 2025, 15:36 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

ID 5537570 - DoF - Provision of Internal Audit Services

Official notice

Authority: Department of Finance (Central government)

Framework agreement2 lotsServicesOpen procedureSME suitableMax 2 lots to bid

Sectors: Business Services & Consultancy (79) Delivery: Northern Ireland (UKN)

Framework ceiling (notional)£2,000,000total for 2 lots · framework ceiling, not attributable revenue

Submissions closed 10 Mar 2025awarded 30 May 2025

Lots 2max 2 to bid

What is being bought2 lots · detail below

Published requirement description

Internal Audit Services (IAS) intends to establish a Framework Agreement for the provision of internal auditors to carry out risk-based Internal Audit assignments which will contribute towards the completion of agreed Internal Audit Strategies and associated Internal Audit Plans on a call-off as required basis. The Framework Agreement will contain 2 (two) Lots: Lot 1 – General Internal Audit Services and Lot 2 – ICT Internal Audit Services. Full details of requirements are set out in the Specification document (ID 5537870 – Specification).

CPV: Accounting and auditing services · Accounting, auditing and fiscal services · Auditing services · Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security · Corporate governance rating services · Financial auditing services · Fraud audit services · Internal audit services · Statutory audit services

How this framework works

From the published notice

Places: up to 5 suppliers · 5 bids on the busiest of 2 lots (1.0 per place) · 3 appointed

Lots and requirements (2)Procurement structure

2 lots · all with a published value · a supplier may bid for at most 2 of them · evaluation weights differ by lot

Lot #1General Internal Audit ServicesCancelledRenewalPublished value£1,500,000

Delivery: Northern Ireland

Extensions: Following the initial term, there are 3 options to extend for any period of up to and including12 months each. · The Framework Agreement shall commence on award (expected to be 1 April 2025) and will continue until the end of the Initial Term (31 March 2026), with three options to extend for any period of up to and including 12 months each.Variant bids: not allowed

79000000 Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security 79200000 Accounting, auditing and fiscal services 79210000 Accounting and auditing services 79212100 Financial auditing services 79212110 Corporate governance rating services 79212200 Internal audit services

Lot #2ICT Internal Audit ServicesCancelledRenewalPublished value£500,000

Delivery: Northern Ireland

Extensions: Following the initial term, there are 3 options to extend for any period of up to and including 12 months each. · The Framework Agreement shall commence on award (expected to be 1 April 2025) and will continue until the end of the Initial Term (31 March 2026), with three options to extend for any period of up to and including 12 months each.Variant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
i
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more

How bids were scored

Lots publish different evaluation splits; there is no single procedure weighting.

Lot	Quality	Price	Social value	Split
1 · General Internal Audit Services	69.6%	20%	10.4%
2 · ICT Internal Audit Services	80%	20%	—

Conditions of participation3

Economic & financial standing
As per Tender documentation.
Technical & professional ability
As per Tender documentation.
Technical & professional ability
As per Tender documentation.

What this means for your bid

Price carries 20 points on every lot: a 10% discount moves about 2 points.
“ID 5537570 - DoF - Provision of Internal Audit Services” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 5 suppliers, not a single contract.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record · publisher note attached

Procedure method: Open procedure
Legal basis: CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category: Services
Notice status: Awarded
Procurement threshold: Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime: Standard
Commercial structure: Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement: Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type: Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered: Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement: No (one-off requirement)
First published: 7 Feb 2025, 15:36 GMT
Last source update: 30 May 2025, 13:56 BST
Award evaluation window: 10 Mar 2025 – …
Authority reference: ID 5537570
FTS notice number: 2025/S 000-028806
Classification (CPV): Accounting and auditing servicesAccounting, auditing and fiscal servicesAuditing servicesBusiness services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and securityCorporate governance rating servicesFinancial auditing servicesFraud audit servicesInternal audit servicesStatutory audit services
Delivery area: Northern Ireland (UKN)
Official registry OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04dce5 Find a Tender

Review and risk notes

Review procedure: CPD complied with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and incorporated a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract was communicated to tenderers. That notification provided full information on the award decision. This provided time for the unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract was entered into.

Publisher note: Contract Monitoring. The successful contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored in line with the tender documentation. Contractors not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in CPD for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance and the contract may be terminated. The issue of a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance can result in the Contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy for a period of three years from the date of issue.. .

How it was run

Official notice

Appointment period ends: 10 Mar 2025, 15:00 GMT
Submission channel: {"written"}
Accepted languages: en
Bids opened: 10 Mar 2025, 15:30 GMT

Timeline

10 Mar 2025 → 8 Jun 2025 · 4 dates

Admission / appointment period endsperiod end, not a bid countdown
10 Mar 2025, 15:00 GMT
Bids opened
10 Mar 2025, 15:30 GMT
Notice published
30 May 2025, 13:56 BST
Bids must remain valid until
8 Jun 2025, 23:59 BST

Notice history

1 event · 2 releases on Find a Tender

Status changed to complete
30 May 2025, 13:56 BST

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast

Suppliers appointed 3admitted to the panel · see the list ↓

Bids received 51 from SMEs · busiest of 2 lots

Contracts signed 2latest 30 May 2025

2 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.

Contracts

Lot 1 – General Internal Audit Services
Signed
30 May 2025
Value
£1,500,000
Status
active
Lot 2 – ICT Internal Audit Services
Signed
30 May 2025
Value
£500,000
Status
active

Bid statistics published by the authority

Lot	Bids	SME	VCSE	Valid bid range
1 · General Internal Audit Services	5bids · 5 electronic · 3 from abroad	1	—	—
2 · ICT Internal Audit Services	1bids · 1 electronic · 1 from abroad	0	—	—

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Department of Finance

Contracting authorityCentral GovernmentBody governed by public lawGeneral public services 303 Airport Road West, BELFAST, UK, BT3 9EDContact email Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

The UK does not have any such bodies with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures. Instead; any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the PCR 2015 as amended.Review body Belfast

Framework contractors & participating bidders

3 commercial parties on the notice

Deloitte - Main Account MCS/LLPFramework contractor Hill House, LONDON, UK, EC4A 3JRContact email
ERNST YOUNG LLPFramework contractor 1 More Place, LONDON, UK, SE1 7EUContact email
Sumer Accountants NI LtdFramework contractor Glendinning House, BELFAST, UK, BT1 6DNContact email

Official documents & specifications

Official links; attachments are not copied

No document links were published on the notice.