PR Services · UK public procurement notice

Contracts

• Contract 025268-2024-c101555-1 · Cardew Group Limited

  Signed

  7 Oct 2021

  Value

  £1,107,162

  Status

  active

  • Change The modification is permissible under regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The additional services became necessary in January 2024. The increased levels of public scrutiny POL was under due to the Horizon IT Inquiry combined with the vacancy created by the sudden departure of POL's Group Director of Corporate Affairs, Communication and Brand, combined with the temporary re-organisation of its public affairs team, meant that POL required a substantial increase in communications support over and above those services covered by POL's retainer with the contractor. POL intends to conduct a competition for these services from July, in order to have a new contract in place by 31st December 2024 when the current contract expires; however, a significant increase in public and media interest has meant additional support is needed during the period from January 2024 to July 2024. From August 2024 POL will return to an enhanced retainer. The value of the proposed additional services is not more than 50% of the original contract value. The original contract value was £738,108. The modification is valued at £369,054, Total contract value is £1,107,162., Need for additional works, services or supplies by the original contractor/concessionaire: A change of contractor could not be made during this period for technical reasons because the contractor has established and deep understanding of POL's business operations and its communications needs. The requirement for the Additional Services occurred suddenly and another provider would not have had time to develop that know-how to be able to provide the required surge in services during the period from January 2024 to July 2024. POL could not have appointed another supplier in the short term to provide the additional services up to December 2024 while POL takes steps to procure an alternative provider in the medium term from December 2024. An alternative contractor would not be able to provide the services in the interim until such competition for the future services can be conducted. If POL had changed the contractor during the period January 2024 to July 2024, POL would have suffered substantial inconvenience and/or duplication of costs. Changing to a contractor without the current contractor's unique know-how would have caused disruption to POL's business at a critical time for the business and its Postmasters. The surge in capacity necessitated by the aforementioned events were required immediately such that, while POL can, and intends to, run a competition in the medium term, it could not have done so in the immediate term. Were POL to appoint a second service provider during the period January to July 2024, it would have been paying for the same service twice and would, therefore, have been duplicating costs. The value of the proposed additional services is not more than 50% of the original contract value. The original contract value was £738,108. The modification is valued at £369,054, Total contract value is £1,107,162.

Dispute resolution & review bodies

• Royal Courts Of JusticeReview body london