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Published 26 Mar 2026, 17:11 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Library Resources · UK public procurement notice

Official notice

Authority: OPEN UNIVERSITY(THE) (Education)

Direct award
Sectors: Education & Training (80) Delivery: South East (UKJ12)
Awarded value£274,543published award · inc. VAT
Award in standstill 26 Mar 2026no call for competition
Award (standstill) to Proquest LLC

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Library Resources relating to Ebooks.

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Awarded
Delivery: South East
80000000 Education and training 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
26 Mar 2026, 17:11 GMT
Last source update
26 Mar 2026, 20:39 GMT
Authority reference
OUPA11664
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-028222
Latest notice
Contract award notice (UK6)
Delivery area
South East (UKJ12)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0675c1 Find a Tender
Why no open competition
Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights
Published justification

Single supplier - intellectual property or exclusive rights.

The direct award is justified on the grounds that competition is absent for technical reasons, and the contract concerns the protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights.

Ebook Central Academic Complete (UKI Edition) is a proprietary academic ebook platform developed, owned and exclusively licensed by ProQuest (Clarivate).

The platform aggregates a unique collection of academic ebook content under licensing agreements held exclusively by ProQuest with individual publishers. No other supplier can lawfully offer or replicate this specific collection, platform functionality, or the associated publisher licensing framework.

The University has a continuing requirement to provide its students and staff with access to this resource, which is embedded in academic curricula and research workflows.

This justification meets the conditions of Schedule 5 (5)(a-b) and (6)(a-b) of the Procurement Act.

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

26 Mar 2026 → 8 Apr 2026 · 2 dates
  1. Notice published214 days ago
    26 Mar 2026, 20:39 GMT
  2. Standstill ends201 days ago
    8 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 26 Mar 2026
  1. Transparency notice published
    26 Mar 2026, 17:11 GMT
    UK5
  2. Contract award notice published
    26 Mar 2026, 20:39 GMT
    UK6
  3. Contract signature expected
    1 May 2026, 23:59 BST
    scheduled

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value (inc. VAT) £274,5431 award inc. VAT; no net value published
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Proquest LLC1 May 2026 – 30 Apr 2031£274,543 inc. VAT26 Mar 2026standstill to 8 Apr 2026Standstill

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-CHC: RC000391 · GB-PPON: PYNW-6296-ZJQQ Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, South East, MK7 6AAContact email

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • ProQuest LLCAwarded supplierGB-PPON: PCXC-2226-VJZY 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, US, 48106-1346, USContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Contract award notice awardContract award noticeUK6Contract award notice on Find a Tender
  • Transparency notice awardTransparency noticeUK5Transparency notice on Find a Tender