ServiceNow licensing extension · UK public procurement notice

This direct award is justified under Section 41 and Schedule 5, paragraph 7 of the Procurement Act 2023, which permits a contracting authority to award a contract without competition where the contract is an extension or partial replacement of existing goods/services and:

• a change in supplier would result in goods/services that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing goods/services; and
• that difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance.

In this case, the award covers the continued use of our ServiceNow platform for three years. We have developed multiple bespoke services and integrations on ServiceNow; switching to another system would render these custom elements incompatible and require extensive re‑builds, complex data migration, re‑integration with dependent systems, and comprehensive re‑training of staff. Taken together, these impacts would create disproportionate technical difficulties and operational risk, so retaining the incumbent supplier is the only practicable route to ensure continuity, interoperability, and maintainability of our core service management capability.