Official UK procurement notice
Research Ethics Management System
Authority: Aston University (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionAston University is seeking proposals from Suppliers who are able to provide a Research Ethics Management System suitable for use within a Higher Education Environment.
The Research Integrity Office (RIO) are responsible for ethics evaluation of research projects across the following stakeholder groups:
- Research active staff.
- Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs).
- UG/PG taught students.
Ethics management consists of entirely manual processes involving email, MS Word, and MS Excel, delivered by three people.
The RIO is a small team for the workload, smaller than equivalent teams at other institutions. Whilst the team has grown, so has the complexity and volume of their workload. With the workload demand of the current process, there are not enough reviewers in the Colleges.
With this manual and unsustainable way of working, process reengineering is required with proactive and compliant solutions to allow staff to manage the ethics approval process, in an efficient environment where there is positive sentiment and an understanding of the consequences and the broader context of ethical approval.
Proposals will also include ongoing hosting and maintenance provision.
The full specification is available as part of the procurement documents available through Aston's e-tendering portal.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 31 Mar 2029, 23:59 BST.
CPV: Software-related services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£215,000
What it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Functional and Non-Functional Requirements: 70%
- Pricing and Milestones: 30%
Published award criteria (2)
- Functional and Non-Functional Requirements
- Pricing and Milestones
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 31 Mar 2029
- First published
- 23 May 2025, 09:13 BST
- Last source update
- 24 Sept 2025, 14:32 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 9 Jul 2025
- Authority reference
1109- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-026106- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-051ff4Find a Tender
- Risks
Dependency on third-party data integration timelines that result in delays beyond the control of the project team. This may trigger the need to adjust deliverables, requirements etc.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 17 Jun 2025, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 10 Jun 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Submissions must be made via our e-tendering portal ProContract. Suppliers will need to register to gain access to the project using the following url address - procontract.due-north.com/Opportunities/Index ↗
Timeline
23 May 2025 → 24 Sept 2025 · 8 dates- Planning notice published23 May 2025, 09:13 BST
- Tender notice published23 May 2025, 12:04 BST
- Clarification questions by10 Jun 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline17 Jun 2025, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by9 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts31 Jul 2025, 00:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent1 Aug 2025, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published393 days ago24 Sept 2025, 14:32 BST
Notice history
9 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 23 May 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published23 May 2025, 09:13 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published23 May 2025, 12:04 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active23 May 2025, 12:04 BST
- Procurement method changed23 May 2025, 12:04 BST
- Deadline published: 17 Jun 2025, 12:00 BST23 May 2025, 12:04 BST
- Contract award notice published1 Aug 2025, 14:09 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete1 Aug 2025, 14:09 BST
- Contract signature expected14 Aug 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published24 Sept 2025, 14:32 BSTUK7
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-05: 1 release · 23 May 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 Solutions Pty LtdSME15 Aug 2025 – 31 Aug 2028 · up to 31 Aug 2030Extensions: 2 years | £142,000 inc. VAT | 31 Jul 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · F1 Solutions Pty LtdSME
- Signed
- 24 Sept 2025
- Value
- £117,755 inc. VAT
- Period
- 31 Mar 2026 – 30 Mar 2029 · up to 30 Mar 2031 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- 12 months + 12 months
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6final-stage tenders · 14 at stage one | 5 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- F1 Solutions Pty LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Technical specifications Suppliers are required to submit their tender response on our e-tendering portal ProContract. Suppliers must first regiser on the ProContract portal to enable access to the tender documentation. Please use the following URL https://procontract.due-north.com/Opportunities/Index?v…
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender