University of Lincoln: Urgent Purchase of Laptops (EXP057)

UK-Lincoln: Computer equipment and supplies.

Section I: Contracting Authority

   I.1) Name, Addresses and Contact Point(s):
       University of Lincoln
       Procurement c/o Finance,, Brayford Pool,, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 1522837188, Email: vmelides@lincoln.ac.uk
       Contact: Vasos Melides
       Main Address: https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/
       NUTS Code: UKF3

   I.2) Joint procurement:
      The contract involves joint procurement: No          
      In the case of joint procurement involving different countries, state applicable national procurement law: Not Provided
      The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body: No

   I.4)Type of the contracting authority:
      Body governed by public law

   I.5) Main activity:
      Education

Section II: Object Of The Contract

   II.1) Scope of the procurement

      II.1.1) Title: Urgent Purchase of Laptops (EXP057)            
      Reference number: EXP057

      II.1.2) Main CPV code:
         30200000 - Computer equipment and supplies.


      II.1.3) Type of contract: SUPPLIES

      II.1.4) Short description: Extraordinary circumstances for the provisions of laptop computers.
The purchase is for a total of 580 HP laptops. These are being sourced with a combination of immediate delivery (190 units) and delivery within a few days (the balance of the order). The urgent requirement will enable the University to facilitate agile and home working in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

      II.1.6) Information about lots
         This contract is divided into lots: No
            
      II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
          Value: 559,960
                  
         Currency:GBP            

   II.2) Description

      II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):
      Not Provided

      II.2.3) Place of performance
      Nuts code:
      UKF3 - Lincolnshire
   
      Main site or place of performance:
      Lincolnshire
             

      II.2.4) Description of the procurement: This is a contract award notice for 580 new laptops. The award is being conducted under regulation 32. (2) (c) 'Use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication'.

Due to the critical and unforeseen nature of the current Covid-19 outbreak, the University is taking measures to safeguard its students and staff. As part of the Incident Management and Business Continuity processes, remote working is being implemented across the workforce. To enable this the University immediately requires more laptops, which are in very short supply across the supply market due to both a surge in demand and pre-existing production problems at major OEMs. Laptops are therefore urgently needed for both staff (to enable remote working for an extended period) and students (some students do not have appropriate devices given that all teaching is now being delivered online).

Whilst the University already has an existing compliant contract for laptops (by means of a Further Competition), this cannot be used to fulfil this urgent order. Lead times of 6 weeks are being quoted and the University already has back-orders in place on the current contract. This can be seen across the industry with manufacturers facing delays due to the lack of availability of Intel’s processor chips, which are an essential component.

The supplier has been able to offer large quantities of their current in-stock items. The decision to purchase these devices has been agreed by the University’s Incident Management Team which has convened in response to Covid-19’s impact. The aim is to enable more agile/home working during the Covid-19 outbreak and to comply with government regulations. The purchase is therefore time limited, due to the short supply.

Please see annex d for further details

      II.2.5) Award criteria:
      Quality criterion - Name: Quality / Weighting: 100
                  
      Cost criterion - Name: Criterion 1 / Weighting: 0
            

      II.2.11) Information about options
         Options: No
         

      II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
         The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
         

      II.2.14) Additional information: Not Provided


Section IV: Procedure

IV.1) Description

   IV.1.1)Type of procedure: Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below (please complete Annex D1)


   IV.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
      The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement: No       
      

   IV.1.6) Information about electronic auction
      An electronic auction has been used: No

   IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
      The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes

IV.2) Administrative information

   IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
       Not Provided
   

   IV.2.9) Information about termination of call for competition in the form of a prior information notice
      The contracting authority will not award any further contracts based on the above prior information notice: No

Section V: Award of contract

Award Of Contract (No.1)

   Contract No: EXP057    
   Lot Number: Not Provided    
   Title: Not Provided

   A contract/lot is awarded: Yes


   V.2) Award of contract

      V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract: 23/03/2020

      V.2.2) Information about tenders
         Number of tenders received: 1
         Number of tenders received from SMEs: 0 (SME - as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC)          
         Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: 0          
         Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 0          
         Number of tenders received by electronic means: 1

      V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor

      The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
         
         Contractor (No.1)
             DAISY CORPORATE SERVICES LIMITED, 04166889
             Lindred House, 20 Lindred Road, Brierfield, Nelson, BB9 5SR, United Kingdom
             NUTS Code: UKD4
            The contractor is an SME: No

      V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
         Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: Not Provided          
         Total value of the contract/lot: 559,960
         Currency: GBP

      V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
         The contract is likely to be subcontracted: No
         
Section VI: Complementary information

   VI.3) Additional information: To view this notice, please click here:
https://neupc.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=482801198

   VI.4) Procedures for review

      VI.4.1) Review body
          University of Lincoln
          Campus Way, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, United Kingdom
          Tel. +44 1522837188

      VI.4.3) Review procedure
         Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures: Not Provided

      VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
         Not Provided

   VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 01/04/2020




ANNEX D

   1. Justification for the choice of the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a call for competition in accordance with Article 32 of Directive 2014/24/EU

      No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to: Not Provided

      The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development under the conditions stated in the directive (for supplies only): No       
      
      The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason: No

      Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive: Yes

      Additional deliveries by the original supplier ordered under the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

      
      
      Procurement of supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity market: No

      Purchase of supplies or services on particularly advantageous terms: No


   3. Explanation
          The Covid-19 outbreak has been declared a Major Incident by the University’s Incident Management Team and immediate action is needed to facilitate additional home working for staff and remote tuition to students. The University is therefore enabling its workforce to become more agile so that the University may continue to function. However the University's current provider of computer equipment is struggling to meet demand with waiting times of over 6 weeks for a single laptop. Therefore purchasing through the existing contractual arrangements is not an option.

Whilst the combined value of this Award Notice is above the PCR 2015 threshold for Supplies, there are legitimate grounds for invoking Regulation 32(2)(c) given that these actions are being taken in response to a public health emergency.

This procurement is therefore being conducted as a case of extreme urgency. Due to the risk to public health, the University has been effectively closed to both students and staff (other than to a handful of essential staff) following Government instructions issued on Monday 23rd March 2020. Teaching had already moved online and staff on site had been working on a rota basis to facilitate social distancing. However, the Government instructions changed rapidly as the scale of the public health emergency became clearer.

Another of the University's suppliers was able to offer access to a large stock of laptops on a first come first serve basis, therefore providing a solution to the immediate and unplanned need. Due to the unforeseen events the extreme urgency had been brought about because of the high demand for laptops, the shortage of supply and the long waiting times. The University has moved to approximately 95% of staff now home working, which is completely unprecedented. The University’s actions are intending to maintain existing service provision at extremely short notice of change. The circumstances of Covid-19 are so unusual that there is no way that the University could have planned for the change in demand and the explosion in demand for devices necessary for home working; and could not have been expected before this national emergency. The University does have a strategy for rolling replacement of computer equipment across the workforce, however this was due to take place over a number of months/years.

The extreme and unforeseeable urgency brought about by these events, make it impossible to run a procurement in accordance with the normal timescales of PCR 2015. If the University did not act immediately, the stock would be sold to other clients given the huge national surge in demand for home working. Running an accelerated procurement would still result in these devices being taken by other customers and is, therefore, not viable to the University at this time.