Official UK procurement notice
Unit 4 Upgrade · UK public procurement notice
Authority: University of Sussex (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe U4ERP (Unit4 Enterprise Resource Planning) application is the system used by the entire university for the management and control of its finances and core financial operations. The application is essential IT infrastructure as it provides accounting functionality with end-to-end financial operations capability, which enables budget allocation and management across the whole university. It is also the system that handles all expense claims (staff & students), procurement, accounts receivable (commercial), accounts payable, estates inventory management, fixed assets management, , accounting and financial management, accounting for capital and projects, commitment accounting and reporting.
Included in the contract is also e-invoicing functionality, together with contract management, and an option to migrate to Unit4's new partner for providing a research costing & pricing platform.
The firm also provides support and maintenance under this contract. In addition, U4ERP will also be hosted by Unit4 in the cloud.
CPV: Software-related services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Finance software system - Unit4
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 26 Nov 2024, 17:37 GMT
- Last source update
- 26 Nov 2024, 17:37 GMT
- Authority reference
US 24300- FTS notice number
2024/S 000-038237- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04c047Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
Regulation 32(2)(c) permits the award of a public contract for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority; the time limits for the open or restricted procedures or competitive procedures with negotiation cannot be complied with.
The University considers that its reliance on Regulation 32(2)(c) is justified for the following reasons:
The University has a perpetual license for the The U4ERP (Unit4 Enterprise Resource Planning and receives annual maintenance and support from Unit4 Business Software Limited (Unit4). On 17 October 2023 Unit4 announced that it would no longer provide maintenance and support services for perpetual licences or any on-premises solutions post 31 December 2024, meaning that due to these unforeseen events University have to sign the contract by end of 2024 and migrate the existing solution to Unit4's own cloud services within the 3 year contract period.
The Unit4 system is an essential part of the University infrastructure such that any down time or system failure would have a detrimental effect on the running of the University services. Unit4's announcement that it would cease to provide maintenance and support services for on-premises solutions post 31 December 2024 was not foreseeable by the University and has given rise to a situation of extreme urgency in which the University must ensure that its ERP systems do not become unsupported post 31 December 2024.
It is the University position that the time period provided by Unit4 before the ERP system becomes unsupported is insufficient to undertake the intricate process of compiling detailed business requirements for a new solution, perform an exhaustive market analysis, execute a comprehensive open procurement exercise, and deploy a new system prior to 31 December 2024.
The decision to award a contract pursuant to Unit4 pursuant to Regulation 32(2)(c) is therefore considered to be strictly necessary in a situation of extreme urgency, to ensure business continuity for the University. This approach will also provide the necessary time to conduct wider assessment of its infrastructural IT provision - with respect to Finance, HR and Procurement and ensure that any future procurement decisions align with the University best interests and value for money obligations.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNIT4 Business Software Limited | £864,096 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 038237-2024-1 · UNIT4 Business Software Limited
- Signed
- 18 Nov 2024
- Value
- £864,096
- Status
- active
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- University of SussexReview body
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Unit4 Business Software LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.