Issue details

Reasons for the decision are:
- The council are part of a regional collaborative group across 24 authorities that jointly procure a eTendering system for the benefits associated specifically ease of access for suppliers to contract opportunities across the region and the economies of scale associated with jointly procuring and contract managing a system.

- The current contract with Proactis for the ETendering solution (contract reference: C4713) ends on the 31st December 2021 and there are no available extensions.
- The incumbent provider did not submit a bid for the new contract so a new system will need to be implemented.
- An eTendering solution is a requirement of all public bodies captured by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, where information relating to tendering activity must be available electronically as per regulation 22.

- In addition to the regulatory requirement in having tender documents electronically available. An eTendering solution
- North Yorkshire County Council have led the procurement on behalf of the 24 Y&H authorities and this has involved all stakeholders, including Doncaster Council, feeding into the specification and other elements of the procurement. The council’s ICT were consulted with on the specification and no technical issues were raised.

- Eight tenders were received and evaluated in line with the evaluation strategy. Four suppliers failed the minimum threshold questions and were disqualified. The tender was evaluated on 60% quality and 40% price.
- The highest scoring bidder is EU Supply (Mercell). This supplier are experienced in working on multi-authority contracts for example they currently deliver the national collaborative portal in Ireland (6,400 buying organisations) and the Blue Light portal (40 buying organisations).
- Leeds City Council will enter into the contract with Mercell UK and Doncaster Council will pay Leeds City Council for their portion through an agreement Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).