Variation to Contract for Print Management Software and Multifunctional Devices

Tender description

The initial contract was due to expire on 31st December 2020, but has been varied due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since March this year, Covid-19 restrictions have limited campus access, resulting in a dramatic drop in the usage of printing by both staff and students. As staff continue to work largely from home and face-to face teaching is limited, forecasting future requirements for MFD’s and the PMS, in order to carry out a procurement exercise to replace this contract, is very difficult. The variation has delayed the end date until 31st December 2022. A procurement exercise will be carried out early in 2022, when we are in a position to obtain a more accurate requirements analysis. The variation can be justified under Regulation 72 (c) of the Public Contract (Scotland) Regulations 2015 which provides that a variation can be allowed where all of the following conditions are fulfilled— (i)the need for modification has been brought about by circumstances which a diligent contracting authority could not have foreseen; (ii)the modification does not alter the overall nature of the contract or framework; (iii)any increase in price does not exceed 50 % of the initial contract value or framework agreement and with the terms of the Scottish Government Policy Note SPPN4/2020.