Award

HR and Payroll Systems VEAT Notice

EAST LOTHIAN COUNCIL

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Award

30 Apr 2025 at 11:05

Summary of the contracting process

East Lothian Council has completed the procurement process under the category of personnel and payroll services, awarding a contract titled "HR and Payroll Systems VEAT Notice" to MHR International. This contract, focusing on a crucial service for the council, will span five years and is valued at £646,609. The procurement process was conducted via a limited method, specifically an award procedure without prior publication, due to the necessity of maintaining the existing HR and Payroll System to avoid substantial changeover costs. The contract, covering East Lothian (region UKM73), was signed on 27th March 2025, and is aligned with the 2015 Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations, ensuring compliance with regulation 33 requirements.

The award to MHR International presents business growth opportunities, particularly for firms specialising in integrated HR and payroll solutions that can offer economically advantageous alternatives. However, due to the technical and proprietary nature of the iTrent products offered by MHR, competition may be limited in this instance. Nonetheless, businesses involved in the provision of similar systems or complementary software solutions should consider future market engagements, as East Lothian Council plans to continually assess the market for subsequent tendering opportunities beyond the current contract period. This proactive approach to market testing can open doors for innovative solutions that meet public sector needs in cost-effective ways.

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Notice Title

HR and Payroll Systems VEAT Notice

Notice Description

This is a voluntary ex ante transparency(VEAT) notice. East Lothian Council intends to award of contract for it's HR and Payroll System to MHR International for 5 years.

Lot Information

Lot 1

This is a voluntary ex ante transparency(VEAT) notice. East Lothian Council intends to award of contract for it's HR and Payroll System to MHR International for 5 years.

Procurement Information

East Lothian Council's HR and Payroll System is essential to organisational service delivery. In this instance, cost and resource implications of changing to a new platform would have significant cost of change implications. The business rationale for continuing with MHR International products links to the costs of change, which is not necessarily limited to the direct costs of licensing new software, but holistic costs pertaining to the migration of data, implementation of organisation wide training to embed a new system. The current system is embedded within processes and cross departmentally. Given the costs outlined above, an alternative system would need to be a consolidation of software systems to deliver efficiencies which provide the most economically advantageous solution. It was not judged that this could be achieved in this contractual cycle. For these reasons, there are no financially, administratively reasonable, viable alternative, substitute systems, or products other than the iTrent software that can meet East Lothian Council's needs during the period of the proposed contract. The required licensing and support of this product can only be provided by MHR International for technical reasons and due to the supplier's exclusive rights in and to the proprietary [iTrent products. Accordingly, it is considered that the proposed award of contract to MHR International meets with the requirements Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, Regulation 33(1)(b)(ii) and (iii). The Council will continue, during the life of the contract, to carry out market testing for tendering opportunities beyond this contract.

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-050a0d
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/017933-2025
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Limited
Procurement Method Details
Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security


CPV Codes

79631000 - Personnel and payroll services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£646,609 £500K-£1M

Notice Dates

Publication Date
30 Apr 20259 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
27 Mar 202511 months ago
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Not Specified
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
EAST LOTHIAN COUNCIL
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
procurement@eastlothian.gov.uk
Contact Phone
+44 620827827

Buyer Location

Locality
HADDINGTON, EAST LOTHIAN
Postcode
EH41 3HA
Post Town
Edinburgh
Country
Scotland

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLM Scotland
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLM1 East Central Scotland
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLM11 East Lothian and Midlothian
Delivery Location
TLM73 East Lothian and Midlothian

Local Authority
East Lothian
Electoral Ward
Haddington and Lammermuir
Westminster Constituency
Lothian East

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

MHR

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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