Notice Information
Notice Title
Provision of Revenue & Benefits Solution
Notice Description
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) intends to enter into a further contract with MRI Software LLC for the provision of a Software as a Service (SaaS) Revenues and Benefits solution, including hosting, maintenance, upgrades and ongoing support. These services are already embedded within the Council's existing infrastructure and form a critical component of its delivery and supporting of statutory revenues, benefits administration and income collection services. Standstill Period End: 23 March 2026 8 working days Direct Award Justification * Additional or repeat goods, services or works - extension or partial replacement * Single supplier - technical reasons - a change in supplier would result in the contracting authority receiving goods, services or works that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing goods, services or works, and - the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance. The contract is being awarded directly under Section 41 and Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023. - The existing Revenues and Benefits solution is an established, business critical system that underpins the Council's statutory delivery of taxation, benefits administration and income collection. The solution is embedded within the Council's digital ecosystem and is linked to multiple internal systems and datasets. - A change of supplier would result in goods or services that are initially incompatible with the Council's existing systems and integrations. Transitioning to an alternative supplier would require extensive system replacement, complex data migration and significant reengineering of systems, increasing the likelihood of disproportionate technical, operational and service delivery risks. - Such incompatibility would present a risk to service continuity and create unacceptable operational risk in the delivery of statutory services. The Council therefore considers that the conditions for a direct award under Section 41 and Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 are fully satisfied. - The Council considered whether a wider market exercise would be proportionate but concluded that, given the scale of transition required and statutory risk involved, this would not represent an efficient or responsible use of public resources. Operational Continuity Current solution supports critical services with proven reliability. It has been in long term operational use and has demonstrated reliability and stability within the Council's digital environment. Maintaining continuity of this proven solution reduces operational risk and supports consistent service delivery to residents. A change of supplier would require significant retraining for operational, technical and finance staff, alongside the redesign of established business processes that have been embedded over many years. This would place additional resource demands on services, increase the risk of user error during transition, and divert staff capacity away from frontline statutory duties. Transitioning to an alternative solution would introduce a risk of disruption during system migration, including delays to benefit payments, billing and income collection. Any interruption to these functions could impact the Council's ability to meet its statutory obligations and could have adverse consequences for service users who rely on timely payments and accurate financial processing. Financial Impact Integrations with other systems across the Council would require detailed requirements gathering, implementation work, thorough testing, and ongoing support through third party/ external support. The Council explicitly compared the cost of procuring the solution through a compliant reseller framework against a direct award to the software provider. These findings showed that a direct award would result in a lower total contract cost over the proposed term, delivering demonstrable cost avoidance of approx. PS23,000 per annum compared to the reseller option. Selecting the lower cost option ensures that public funds are spent efficiently and economically. The cost comparison focused on available compliant procurement routes for the incumbent solution, as alternative solutions would require full system replacement and transition costs materially exceeding the scope of this renewal.
Procurement Information
- a change in supplier would result in the contracting authority receiving goods, services or works that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing goods, services or works, and - the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance. The contract is being awarded directly under Section 41 and Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023. - The existing Revenues and Benefits solution is an established, business critical system that underpins the Council's statutory delivery of taxation, benefits administration and income collection. The solution is embedded within the Council's digital ecosystem and is linked to multiple internal systems and datasets. - A change of supplier would result in goods or services that are incompatible with the Council's existing systems, data models and integrations. Transitioning to an alternative supplier would require extensive system replacement, complex data migration and significant re engineering of dependent systems, increasing the likelihood of disproportionate technical, operational and service delivery risks. - Such incompatibility would present a risk to service continuity and create unacceptable operational risk in the delivery of statutory services. The Council therefore considers that the conditions for a direct award under Section 41 and Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 are fully satisfied. - The Council considered whether a wider market exercise would be proportionate but concluded that, given the scale of transition required and statutory risk involved, this would not represent an efficient or responsible use of public resources. Operational Continuity - - Current solution supports critical services with proven reliability. It has been in long term operational use and has demonstrated reliability and stability within the Council's digital environment. Maintaining continuity of this proven solution reduces operational risk and supports consistent service delivery to residents. - - A change of supplier would require significant retraining for operational, technical and finance staff, alongside the redesign of established business processes that have been embedded over many years. This would place additional resource demands on services, increase the risk of user error during transition, and divert staff capacity away from frontline statutory duties. - - Transitioning to an alternative solution would introduce a risk of disruption during system migration, including delays to benefit payments, billing and income collection. Any interruption to these functions could impact the Council's ability to meet its statutory obligations and could have adverse consequences for service users who rely on timely payments and accurate financial processing. Financial Impact - Integrations with other systems across the Council would require detailed requirements gathering, implementation work, thorough testing, and ongoing support through third party/ external support. - The Council explicitly compared the cost of procuring the solution through a compliant reseller framework against a direct award to the software provider. These findings showed that a direct award would result in a lower total contract cost over the proposed term, delivering demonstrable cost avoidance of approx. PS23,000 per annum compared to the reseller option. Selecting the lower cost option ensures that public funds are spent efficiently and economically. - The cost comparison focused on available compliant procurement routes for the incumbent solution, as alternative solutions would require full system replacement and transition costs materially exceeding the scope of this renewal.
Notice Details
Publication & Lifecycle
- Open Contracting ID
- ocds-h6vhtk-066815
- Publication Source
- Find A Tender Service
- Latest Notice
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022634-2026
- Current Stage
- Award
- All Stages
- Award
Procurement Classification
- Notice Type
- UK6 - Contract Award Notice
- Procurement Type
- Standard
- Procurement Category
- Services
- Procurement Method
- Direct
- Procurement Method Details
- Direct award
- Tender Suitability
- SME
- Awardee Scale
- Large
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
- CPV Divisions
72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
-
- CPV Codes
72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
Notice Value(s)
- Tender Value
- Not specified
- Lots Value
- Not specified
- Awards Value
- £1,608,645 £1M-£10M
- Contracts Value
- Not specified
Notice Dates
- Publication Date
- 13 Mar 20262 days ago
- Submission Deadline
- Not specified
- Future Notice Date
- Not specified
- Award Date
- 12 Mar 20263 days ago
- Contract Period
- 1 Apr 2026 - 31 Mar 2033 Over 5 years
- Recurrence
- Not specified
Notice Status
- Tender Status
- Complete
- Lots Status
- Complete
- Awards Status
- Pending
- Contracts Status
- Not Specified
Buyer & Supplier
Contracting Authority (Buyer)
- Main Buyer
- BARNSLEY METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
- Contact Name
- Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
- Contact Email
- Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
- Contact Phone
- Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Buyer Location
- Locality
- BARNSLEY, SOUTH YORKSHIRE
- Postcode
- S70 2TA
- Post Town
- Sheffield
- Country
- England
-
- Major Region (ITL 1)
- TLE Yorkshire and The Humber
- Basic Region (ITL 2)
- TLE3 South Yorkshire
- Small Region (ITL 3)
- TLE33 Barnsley
- Delivery Location
- Not specified
-
- Local Authority
- Barnsley
- Electoral Ward
- Central
- Westminster Constituency
- Barnsley North
Further Information
Notice Documents
-
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022634-2026
13th March 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender -
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022197-2026
12th March 2026 - Transparency 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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