Tax Systems Transformation Programme (TSTP)

No description was published on the notice. See the official documents.

CPV: Foreign economic-aid-related services

Legal basis

CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Competitive procedure

GPA / WTO covered

Unspecified in notice

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

15 Oct 2025, 14:16 BST

Last source update

15 Oct 2025, 14:16 BST

Authority reference

8325

FTS notice number

2025/S 000-065615

Classification (CPV)

Foreign economic-aid-related services

Delivery area

Ethiopia (ET)

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-05cd5d Find a Tender

Publisher note: Extension of the contract beyond the advertised scope without prior publication of a call for competition The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) intends to award a 24 month extension to the TSTP contract with Cowater International. This amendment is made under Regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, which permits modifications because additional services by the original contractor have become necessary where a change of contractor cannot be made for economic or technical reasons and such change would cause significant inconvenience of substantial duplication of costs for the contracting authority. The modification does not exceed 50% of the original contract value. The original contract allowed for a 24 month extension to 13 March 2026 which is currently being used. The extension to 13 March 2028 is necessary to support the Government of Ethiopia to complete its vital macro-economic reform programme and additional services are necessary to ensure continuity of support to deliver its reforms. Delivery of the original contract has been delayed at various points by a number of events beyond control of the Authority, Conflict Covid, & recent disruption to wider reforms. This extension will allow continuity of support to deliver the reforms. The success of this project is a key element of the British Government’s foreign policy in this region. A change of contractor cannot be made for economic and technical reasons related to interoperability with the existing services. The current contractor (Cowater) holds contracts with a number of personnel (embedded advisers) who are indispensable to the success of the programme. There is no guarantee that the embedded advisers would be prepared or obliged to transfer to a new provider, if that were possible, and given their indispensability to the success of the programme that is not a tolerable risk for the Authority. These advisers have in-depth experience and knowledge of the revenue programme to date, and relationships and skills which are indispensable in terms of working on implementation with the national Government and the international financial institutions whose support is key to the programme. The programme has to be delivered at speed, and there is an onerous 3 monthly reporting requirement to the international institutions involved without which the wider funding flow is at risk. It would therefore be wholly unrealistic to attempt to insert new individuals into such roles in the remaining 2 years of the project, given the time required for them to get up to speed on the projects against this background, and inherent risks. This would undermine effective delivery, which is fundamentally important in the particular political context in Ethiopia. A change in contractor would cause significant inconvenience or substantial duplication of costs. Any new personnel would need a substantial handover involving significant knowledge transfer, in particular in a context of running another 2 years (as extended) and given the ongoing 3 monthly reporting regime on top of the need to progress the project itself with speed. That would require the Authority to pay for the existing supplier to handover in parallel with the new contract for some time, which would increase, and duplicate costs, of up to £500k over a significant handover period. The extension does not increase the original contract value by more than 50%. For the reasons above the Authority considers that regulation 72(1)(b) of PCR 2015 applies to this contract modification. Whilst that provision does in fact require publication of a transparency notice, the Authority has additionally observed a 10 day standstill period (ended on 13 October 2025)aligned to regulation 99 (3) before concluding the modification with Cowater, and in the event of a claim under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 will rely on these circumstances in relation to the first ground of regulation 99, should it be applicable

Submission deadline

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• Cowater InternationalAwarded supplier 4-109 Murray St, 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON KIN 5M5, Canada, Ottawa, CA
• Cowater InternationalAwarded supplier Ottawa, CA

No document links were published on the notice.