Payroll and HR Software Services

MEL intends to directly awarded this contract to Zellis UK Limited on the basis that, due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only Zellis can supply the services required and there are no reasonable alternatives to those services at this time. The conditions set out in paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 therefore apply.

There is an absence of competition for technical reasons because the services currently required are interim services to maintain its Payroll & HR system while it carries out a re-procurement, and subsequent transitional and mobilisation period, for its longer-term Payroll & HR Software requirements. Continuity of these services is necessary for MEL to continue operating. Zellis is the current supplier of the services and has the specific know-how and relevant systems in place to ensure the continuing functioning of these critical services. No other supplier would be able to provide and implement an adequate replacement system (requiring data migration, configuration, interface work, testing, parallel payroll runs, user acceptance testing and mobilisation) before MEL's current Payroll & HR contract expires.

There is no reasonable alternative to the provision of these interim services by Zellis because of MEL's need for an uninterrupted Payroll & HR service. No alternative supplier could be integrated into the current live system environment before expiry of the existing contract without at least a significant risk to continuous service delivery. MEL is unable to self-deliver the services for this interim period due to their scale, sensitivity and the associated statutory compliance risks. This direct award will guarantee a stable and continuous service while MEL undertakes a robust re-procurement process that will enable a solution for its long-term project delivery.