Schools Information Management System (SIMS)

Concepts

• information technology
• sims
• flintshire
• schools information management system
• sims and associated support services
• ysgol croes atti primary school
• individual schools
• abermorddu county primary school
• alun school
• argoed high school

Location

Flintshire

Description

Transition from existing contractual model of perpetual licence of SIMS to local authority with associated support services, to software as a service model contracting directly with individual schools to provide SIMS and associated support services.

Total Quantity or Scope

Prior to the award of these contracts, the current provider (ESS) had a contract with the local authority under which it provided a perpetual licence to the local authority for the purpose of providing SIMS to the schools in the local authority's area, with associated support services. ESS has now served notice to terminate that contract and requires that, in order to continue provision of SIMS, individual schools must enter into direct contracts with ESS to receive SIMS as software as a service. In order to bring about the transition, the local authority will enter into a Facilitation Agreement ("FA") with ESS under which nothing of value is received by ESS and no material services are provided to the local authority; it is purely an administrative arrangement to effect the transition. Each school in the local authority's area will enter into a School Contract ("SC") with ESS for the direct provision of SIMS as software as a service, at substantially the same cost as before. The highest value SC is 29,269.29 GBP and the lowest value SC is 868.80 GBP (values are for 3 year contract period and exclude any annual inflationary rises). The schools in the local authority's area whose governing bodies will enter into contracts with ESS are as follows: Abermorddu County Primary School 6642084 Alun School 6644006 Argoed High School 6644042 Broughton Primary School 6642268 Bryn Coch Primary School 6642062 Bryn Deva Primary School 6642052 Bryn Garth Primary School 6642013 Bryn Gwalia Primary School 6642068 Bryn Pennant Primary School 6642046 Brynford Primary School 6642065 Carmel Primary School 6642049 Castell Alun High School 6644017 Connahs Quay High School 6644022 Cornist Park County Primary School 6642091 Derwen Primary School 6645200 Drury Primary School 6642089 Elfed High School 6644011 Ewloe Green Primary School 6642012 Flint High School 6644021 Glan Aber Primary School 6642002 Glanrafon Primary School 6642028 Golftyn Primary School 6642077 Gronant County Primary School 6642237 Gwernymynydd Primary School 6642056 Gwynedd Primary School 6642015 Hawarden High School 6644000 Hawarden Village VA Primary School 6643333 Lixwm Church in Wales Voluntary Aided School 6643334 Mountain Lane Primary School 6642063 Nannerch Primary School 6643002 Nercwys Primary School 6643332 Northop Hall Primary School 6642032 Penarlag Community Primary School 6642093 Portfolio PRU 6641102 Queensferry Primary School 6642061 Saltney Ferry Primary School 6642078 Sandycroft Primary School 6642053 Sealand Primary School 6642041 South Down Primary School 6642085 St Anthonys RC Primary School 6643311 St Davids High School 6644013 St Davids RC Primary School 6643308 St Ethelwolds Primary School 6643330 St Johns the Baptist V.A. Primary School 6643331 St Marys RC Primary School 6643306 St Richard Gwyn RC High School 6644600 St Winefride's RC Primary School 6643307 Sychdyn Primary School 6642043 Trelawnyd Primary School 6643316 Venerable Edward Morgan RCP School 6643312 Wepre Primary School 6642086 Westwood Primary School 6642004 Whitford Primary School 6643320 Wood Memorial CP School 6642040 Ysgol Cae'r Nant 6642269 Ysgol Croes Atti Primary School 6642257 Ysgol Derwenfa 6642092 Ysgol Estyn 6642024 Ysgol Gwenffrwd 6642082 Ysgol Gymraeg Mornant 6642021 Ysgol Gynradd Trelogan Pri Sch. 6642044 Ysgol Maes Garmon 6644018 Ysgol Maes Glas 6642018 Ysgol Maes Hyfryd 6647021 Ysgol Maes Y Felin 6642272 Ysgol Merllyn 6642003 Ysgol Myndd Isa 6642267 Ysgol Owen Jones 6642094 Ysgol Parc-y-Llan 6642266 Ysgol Pen Coch 6647020 Ysgol Pennyffordd 6642270 Ysgol Rhos Helyg 6642050 Ysgol Terrig 6642051 Ysgol Treffynnon 6644012 Ysgol Ty Ffynnon 6642271 Ysgol Y Foel Primary School 6642064 Ysgol Yr Esgob 6643303 Ysgol-y-Waun 6642081 The local authority publishes this notice on behalf of itself and the schools listed above but is not acting as a central purchasing body on behalf of the schools.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Indicators

• Award on basis of price.

Legal Justification

This contract award notice is intended to be a relevant contract award notice pursuant to Reg.93(2),(3)and(4) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. It is published on a wholly voluntary basis and without prejudice to the local authority's (LA) and the governing body of each individual school. No prior publication of a contract notice, and thus no competitive tender exercise was required in respect of the Facilitation Agreement (FA) and/or the individual Schools Contracts (SC) as neither are within the scope of application of Part 2 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) due to the following reasons:- The FA has no "value" but simply puts in place an administrative mechanism to transition contracts from LA to schools. It is therefore below the threshold set out in Reg. 5 (as reviewed pursuant to Reg.5A) of the 2015 Regulations. -The governing body of each individual school is a separate contracting entity and each individual SC is a separate contract, each of the individual SCs in the LA's area ranging between 868.80 GBP and 29,269.29 GBP in total over the three-year duration of each SC. Each individual contract is therefore below the threshold set out in Reg.5 (as reviewed pursuant to Reg.5A) of the 2015 Regulations. Further or in the alternative, neither the FA nor individual SCs are subject to a requirement to carry out prior publication of a contract notice and/or any form of competitive tender, because; - the services can only be provided by one particular economic operator (ESS), because competition is absent for technical reasons pursuant to Reg. 32(2)(b)(ii) of the 2015 Regulations. All of the schools in the LA currently use ESS' SIMS product. It would take a minimum of 12mths to transition from ESS'SIMS product to another product. ESS served 90 days notice to terminate the current arrangements mid December 2021, therefore not possible in the timescales for schools to tender and purchase an alternative product and transition to it. - urgency pursuant to Reg. 32(2)(c) of the 2015 Regulations. The provision of SIMS is essential to the running of a school and a school cannot function without it. Due to the short notice given by ESS timescales did not allow for the open or restricted procedure, or competitive procedure with negotiation to be undertaken. It is intended to advertise a competitive tender for SIMS on an all-Wales basis. Award and transition of new contracts to coincide with the end of the 3yr term of the SCs with ESS.

Other Information

Contract duration: 36 months (WA Ref:120230)