Business Process Technical I.T. and Hosting Services in Support of Student Grants Management System for Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI)

Description

City of Dublin ETB proposes to award a contract for the provision of I.T. technical support and hosting services in respect of the bespoke Student Grant Management System of Student Universal Support Ireland (a business unit of the Contracting Authority). Lot 1: The Contracting Authority currently operates a bespoke Grants Management and Payment System for the payment of grants to approximately 120,000 students in Ireland. This system was developed for the Irish Department of Education in 2010 and now falls under the management of City of Dublin ETB. The Contracting Authority conducted a market consultation in December 2022 (OJEU Ref. 2022/S 206-587860) with a view to replacing the existing grants system with a fully online system more attuned to its current day business needs. The evaluation of the responses to this RFI and a decision on the way to proceed to competition are still ongoing. It is anticipated that a decision will be made and tender documents will be issued in Q2 2024. In order to provide for the continuing essential development, maintenance and hosting of the existing grants payment system, it is intended to award a contract without prior publication of a call for competition under Article 32.2.b "competition is absent for technical reasons" of Directive 2014/24/EU. The contract will be for a period of three (3) to four (4) years, in order to ensure that the current Grants Application and Payment System can operate without risk until a new grants processing system can be fully implemented.