Notice Information
Notice Title
Digital Asset Management
Notice Description
This contract is being directly awarded to Cloudinary under Section 41(1)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023 on the basis that Cloudinary is the only supplier capable of delivering the required service for technical reasons. The contract supports the Oak National Academy's core platform, which enables free-to-access educational content aligned with the national curriculum. The Oak platform is uniquely reliant on Cloudinary's proprietary image and video processing infrastructure. This dependency is hard-coded within the platform's architecture and embedded across hundreds of thousands of content items used by schools across England. Replicating this technical solution, or migrating to an alternative provider, would result in disproportionate operational disruption, high cost, and unacceptable delay to service continuity, particularly during the academic year. Market testing has confirmed that no other supplier offers a solution compatible with Oak's existing content schema, metadata frameworks, or custom delivery APIs without fundamental redevelopment of the platform. As such, Cloudinary remains the only supplier technically capable of meeting the current requirements without significant re-engineering of critical systems. This contract is therefore not the result of an artificial narrowing of the parameters of competition, but a reflection of the bespoke and irreplaceable nature of Cloudinary's embedded role in Oak's educational content delivery system.
Notice Details
Publication & Lifecycle
- Open Contracting ID
- ocds-h6vhtk-05490c
- Publication Source
- Find A Tender Service
- Latest Notice
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/032500-2025
- Current Stage
- Award
- All Stages
- Award
Procurement Classification
- Notice Type
- UK7 - Contract Details Notice
- Procurement Type
- Standard
- Procurement Category
- Services
- Procurement Method
- Direct
- Procurement Method Details
- Below threshold - without competition
- Tender Suitability
- Not specified
- Awardee Scale
- Large
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
- CPV Divisions
72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
-
- CPV Codes
72212517 - IT software development services
Notice Value(s)
- Tender Value
- Not specified
- Lots Value
- Not specified
- Awards Value
- Not specified
- Contracts Value
- £20,085 Under £100K
Notice Dates
- Publication Date
- 16 Jun 20258 months ago
- Submission Deadline
- Not specified
- Future Notice Date
- Not specified
- Award Date
- 31 May 20258 months ago
- Contract Period
- 31 May 2025 - 31 May 2026 6-12 months
- Recurrence
- Not specified
Notice Status
- Tender Status
- Complete
- Lots Status
- Complete
- Awards Status
- Active
- Contracts Status
- Active
Buyer & Supplier
Contracting Authority (Buyer)
- Main Buyer
- OAK NATIONAL ACADEMY LIMITED
- Contact Name
- Not specified
- Contact Email
- procurement@thenational.academy
- Contact Phone
- Not specified
Buyer Location
- Locality
- MANCHESTER
- Postcode
- M3 3AA
- Post Town
- Manchester
- Country
- England
-
- Major Region (ITL 1)
- TLD North West (England)
- Basic Region (ITL 2)
- TLD3 Greater Manchester
- Small Region (ITL 3)
- TLD33 Manchester
- Delivery Location
- Not specified
-
- Local Authority
- Manchester
- Electoral Ward
- Deansgate
- Westminster Constituency
- Manchester Central
Further Information
Notice Documents
-
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/032500-2025
16th June 2025 - Contract details notice on Find a Tender
Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)
View full OCDS Record for this contracting process
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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