Server Infrastructure Upgrade & Maintenance

Lancaster & Morecambe College conducted a Competitive Flexible Procedure for the supply, installation, migration and ongoing maintenance of its server infrastructure and backup solution. Seven Initial Tenders were received as part of the Competitive Flexible Procedure process. Following assessment of the submissions against the published requirements, conditions of participation and procedural requirements, the College determined that no suitable Tender remained capable of award.

The reasons for unsuitability included failures to satisfy the published condition of participation relating to relevant contract experience; material breaches of procedural requirements, including failure to submit the current or completed Invitation to Tender documentation; failure to provide an expressly required mandatory safeguarding confirmation; and submission of multiple alternative Financial Evaluations without identifying a single Tender and Total Compliant Sum capable of evaluation under the published Price Evaluation Methodology.

The College considered whether the deficiencies identified could appropriately be addressed through clarification or through further stages of the Competitive Flexible Procedure. It concluded that, in the relevant cases, doing so would require Tenderers to provide, select or materially complete substantive elements of their Tenders after the submission deadline rather than merely clarify information already submitted. No suitable Tender is therefore available from which the College can make an award under section 19 of the Procurement Act 2023.

The College has an ongoing operational requirement to replace and upgrade its server infrastructure and associated backup arrangements and requires the new solution to be implemented as soon as reasonably practicable. The College has already undertaken a competitive procurement exercise for this requirement. Commencing a further competitive tendering procedure at this stage would introduce significant additional delay to the implementation of the required infrastructure and would not meet the College's current operational timescales and need for timely replacement of the existing environment.

Having regard to the outcome of the completed competitive procedure, the absence of any suitable Tender capable of award, and the College's continuing operational requirement to implement the replacement infrastructure without the further delay associated with conducting a new procurement exercise, the College considers that an award under section 19 is not possible in the circumstances. It has therefore determined that the conditions in section 43 of the Procurement Act 2023 are satisfied and intends to switch from the unsuccessful competitive tendering procedure to direct award.

The contract proposed to be awarded remains the contract which was the subject of the competitive tendering procedure and has not been significantly altered as part of the switch to direct award.