RES/LD - The Key and School Governor Hub (Breach)

Tender description

2016/17. They had an informal arrangement with The Key and Governorhub. We marketed the services to schools and collected the subscriptions from schools through the TwS Annual Order process for payment over to The Key by one annual invoice. The value of the orders grew significantly over this period and in 2018 we conducted a market testing exercise. The outcome of the exercise was that we were granted a waiver from a competitive tender process because we were able to demonstrate that The Key is a specialist service, and there was not a comparative product available on the market that would meet the needs of schools or the LA at that time. The waiver was not renewed, and we carried out a competitive tender process and awarded a contract to The Key. We currently have a contract 2 + 1 year in place from April 2019 to March 2021, with the option to extend for an additional 12 months. The existing contract provides schools with three service options, they are School Leadership, School Governorship or both. This contract provides income for TwS, by means of a contract management fee and rebate and Bristol City Council also receive 8 free Key accounts for LA Officers to use. There was only an agreement in place with Governorhub with schools due to the low value of spend. Early this year The Key acquired GovernorHub (previously a small independent company) and this is now part of their portfolio and is a new service offer, which is an enormous value to Bristol Schools. The existing contract initial period is ending on 31st March 2021, with an option to extend for a further 12 months. This provides us with the opportunity to review the existing contract and review alternatives. At this point, we would like not to extend the existing contract but, to request a Waiver for this service provision under the procurement rules of Compliant Exceptions. We understand that there is no other provider in the marketplace and see a waiver as a better option at this time and request a waiver for a 2-year period from 1st April 2021 to 31ST March 2023. We are only requesting a waiver for a period of 2 years, because this approach would enable us to review the market, and carry out another market research exercise to check if competition within this market has developed before the end of the waiver timeline. Moving forward, if a waiver is granted, we would liaise with The Key and have in place a new agreement and pricing arrangement that would benefit all parties. The current value of spend is per annum is: • The Key - £60K • Governorhub - £15k Keywords: schools