Find a TenderAwarded
Published 1 Aug 2024, 11:13 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Third Party Admissions System

Official notice

Authority: University Of Edinburgh (Education)

ServicesOpen procedureSME suitable
Published estimate£600,000exc. VAT
Submissions closed 2 Sept 2024awarded 9 Dec 2024
Awarded to QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The University is looking to work with a commercial partner to support admissions decision-making, with scope to consider verification and conversion support. This work would cover the next three admissions cycles, with the first intake being September 2025.

CPV: Administrative educational services · Data analysis services · Higher education services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1The University of Edinburgh seeks to enhance the Future Student experience both in…AwardedRenewal

The University of Edinburgh seeks to enhance the Future Student experience both in speed of decision turnaround and in the qualitative experience of all applicants whether they receive an offer or not. This is to support our delivery of institutional student population strategic objectives, and to ensure our future student experience is in line with our world class standing. The University is looking to work with a commercial partner to support admissions decision-making, with scope to consider verification and conversion support. This work would cover the next three admissions cycles, with the first intake being September 2025. The third-party admissions service should support to admissions teams at the University of Edinburgh, to provide more concentrated and flexible support in peak periods, and allow for University of Edinburgh Admissions staff to focus on specialist, value-added activity. This should also enable offer making to be delivered in a timely manner. This would likely include:

  • Identification and completion of missing data;
  • Identification of ineligible applicants;
  • Identification of applicants who are highly competitive and should be considered further by admissions teams; and
  • Requesting documentation post-offer, to confirm whether the applicant has met their conditions of offer.

This would primarily be undertaken by staff from the supplier, who are trained by the University of Edinburgh. These staff will be granted access the University’s systems to support this activity. This will include the use of the University’s student records system, EUCLID (SITS). Access is cloud based through multi factor authentication and a VPN should be utilised for any work undertaken off campus. Information will be shared through Microsoft 365 products and supplier staff will be invited to relevant admissions team meetings to ensure accurate and successful completion of work to SLAs.

Data protection standards must be met to ensure safety and security of applicant data.

Delivery: Scotland
Extensions: One 12-month extension option available to the University. · Following the initial 24-month period, the University will have the option to extend by a further 12-months, for a total possible contract duration of 36-months.Variant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
i

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 more
How bids were scored
Quality: 80%Price: 20%
Published sub-criteria (2)
  • Technical: 80%
  • price: 20%
Published award criteria (2)
  • Technical: 80
  • Price: 20
Conditions of participation1
  • Economic & financial standing

    Part IV: Selection Criteria – B: Economic and Financial Standing – Question 4B.1.1

    Bidders will be asked to provide your general annual turnover for the last two financial years. The following calculation will be used:

    (Year 1 Turnover + Year 2 Turnover) divided by 2 = xx

    Estimated Annual Value of Contract

    Where a tenderer does not have the required annual turnover, the UoE may exclude the Tenderer from the competition or may apply discretion seeking supporting evidence to determine the Tenderer’s suitability to proceed in the competition.

    Minimum: Part IV: Selection Criteria – B: Economic and Financial Standing – Question 4B.5.1 Suppliers will be required to hold the minimum insurance levels detailed in the University terms and conditions, which are: - Public liability insurance GBP2,000,000; - Employers’ liability insuran…
Staff
Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 20 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2 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 · publisher note attached
Procedure method
Open procedure
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
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
1 Aug 2024, 11:13 BST
Last source update
10 Dec 2024, 09:17 GMT
Award evaluation window
2 Sept 2024 – …
Authority reference
EC1028
FTS notice number
2024/S 000-039692
Classification (CPV)
Administrative educational servicesData analysis servicesHigher education services
Delivery area
Scotland (UKM75)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0486af Find a Tender
Contract terms
Electronic trading
e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment

Publisher note: (SC Ref:785008)

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: Public Contracts Scotland · Who buys & how to bid on PCS
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free single registration for Scotland; PCS-Tender (Jaggaer) for full bidding
Submission deadline
2 Sept 2024, 12:00 BST
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission"}
Accepted languages
en
Bids opened
2 Sept 2024, 12:00 BST
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

2 Sept 2024 → 10 Dec 2024 · 3 dates
  1. Submission deadline
    2 Sept 2024, 12:00 BST
  2. Bids opened
    2 Sept 2024, 12:00 BST
  3. Notice published
    10 Dec 2024, 09:17 GMT

Notice history

1 event · 2 releases on Find a Tender
  1. Status changed to complete
    10 Dec 2024, 09:17 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value £600,0001 contract exc. VAT
Bids received 54 from SMEs
Contracts signed 1latest 9 Dec 2024
Awarded toValueDateStatus
QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited£600,000 †—Awarded

Contracts

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
5bids · 5 electronic · 5 from abroad4——

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

University Of Edinburgh

Contracting authorityEducationBody governed by public lawEducation Charles Stewart House, 9-16 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1HTContact name, email, phone Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • Edinburgh Sheriff CourtReview body Edinburgh

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • QS Quacquarelli Symonds LimitedAwarded supplier 1 Tranley Mews, Fleet Road, London NW3 2DG UNITED KINGDOM, London, London, NW32DGContact phone

Official documents & specifications

Official links; attachments are not copied

No document links were published on the notice.