Cardiff University

Procurement Services, McKenzie House, 30-36 Newport Road

Cardiff

CF24 0DE

UK

Telephone: +44 2920879648

E-mail: daviesg74@cardiff.ac.uk

NUTS: UKL

Internet address(es)

Main address: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/business/why-work-with-us/for-suppliers

Address of the buyer profile: https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA0258

II.1.1) Title

Reference number: CU.1131.GD

II.1.2) Main CPV code

48100000

II.1.3) Type of contract

Supplies

II.1.4) Short description

Cardiff University seeks a central IT system to support the development and management of research grant applications within an end-to-end process. The system will be required to deliver pre-awards, contracts, ethics, post awards management and enable integration of data for regular reporting.

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement

Value excluding VAT: 2 916 809.32  GBP

IV.1.1) Type of procedure

Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition

Justification for selected award procedure:

The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason: absence of competition for technical reasons

Explanation

Through a pre-market engagement of vendors and comparator universities, Cardiff University have identified Worktribe as the only eligible provider of the system functionalities required. A key benefit of Worktribe is a modular system: as Cardiff University can purchase and implement individual modules to provide the functionalities required whilst providing fully integrated workflows and capability.

There were two stages of pre-market engagement. Initial Pre-market engagement identified various system vendors through UCISA reports and internet searches, and a selection of vendors were invited to deliver a pre-market demonstration of their systems for pre-awards and research contracts. Attendees from across Cardiff were invited to provide area expertise.

Secondly, Cardiff University approached staff in universities using some of the systems invited for pre-market demonstrations to understand the end user’s view of these products.

Initial pre-market engagement indicated systems vary: some systems focus on one area of activity and some systems offer a variety of activities within their systems. Pre-market engagement was critical to explore the system architecture available. Notably some universities employ separate systems and manually integrate them into a workflow: the advantage is the choice of “best of breed” systems but this required additional planning and resource to implement and maintain. The alternative is the use of integrated systems that provide multiple functionalities within one platform and fewer resources to manage. Through feedback from attendees of pre-market engagement, and modelling cost scenarios between integrated and separate systems, we determined an integrated system would be advantageous for simplicity, cost, and functionality.

After identifying an integrated solution is preferable, pre-market analysis indicated:

- Worktribe has a considerable market share (56% of Russell Group and 25% of the sector),

- Positive reviews from Cardiff University stakeholders viewing their pre-market demonstrations

- Positive feedback and views from other institutions using Worktribe.

Issues with alternative systems included:

- Lack of customer base

- Feedback from Cardiff University stakeholders on pre-market demonstrations noted difficulties with systems

- Need for additional development to integrate with Cardiff University’s existing systems for finance and HR

- Lack of integrated solution

IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes

Worktribe

Engineers House, The Promenade, Clifton Down

Bristol

BS8 3NB

UK

NUTS: UKK11

The contractor is an SME: Yes

VI.4.1) Review body