Supply Front Office Technology Solution

United Kingdom-London: Software package and information systems

2014/S 199-351793

Contract notice

Services

Directive 2004/18/EC

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1)Name, addresses and contact point(s)

Circle Anglia Limited (trading as Circle Housing)
1-3 Highbury Station Road
Contact point(s): Group Procurement Team
For the attention of: Mr Chris Cliffe
N1 1SE London
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail: circle.procurement@circle.org.uk

Internet address(es):

General address of the contracting authority: www.circle.org.uk

Further information can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: The above mentioned contact point(s)

I.2)Type of the contracting authority

Body governed by public law

I.3)Main activity

Housing and community amenities

I.4)Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities

The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: no

Section II: Object of the contract

II.1)Description

II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:

Front Office Technology (Digital Platform supported by CRM Solution).

II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance

Services
Service category No 7: Computer and related services

NUTS code UK

II.1.3)Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS)

The notice involves a public contract

II.1.4)Information on framework agreement

II.1.5)Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

The purpose of this process is to procure a suite of Front Office Technologies which will likely include a Digital Platform solution supported by a Customer Relationship Management system as well as the associated implementation services to fully support Circle’s customer service provision across all channels. The solution will also be required to provide the functionality to support partners in efficiently delivering customer service requests.

II.1.6)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

48000000, 72000000, 48100000, 48445000, 72120000, 72200000, 72210000, 72211000, 72212000, 72212100, 72212217, 72212220, 72212222,72212333, 72212445, 72212480, 72212517, 72227000, 72224100, 72232000, 72246000, 72250000, 72253000, 72253200, 72254000, 72260000,72263000, 72265000, 72413000

II.1.7)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): yes

II.1.8)Lots

This contract is divided into lots: no

II.1.9)Information about variants

II.2)Quantity or scope of the contract

II.2.1)Total quantity or scope:

Estimated value excluding VAT:
Range: between 1 100 000 and 4 500 000 GBP

II.2.2)Information about options

Options: no

II.2.3)Information about renewals

This contract is subject to renewal: no

II.3)Duration of the contract or time limit for completion

Duration in months: 84 (from the award of the contract)

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)Conditions relating to the contract

III.1.1)Deposits and guarantees required:

III.1.2)Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:

Invoicing terms at 30 days from receipt of valid invoice, following satisfactory performance.

III.1.3)Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:

In the event of a successful consortia bid, Circle Housing reserves the right to require the consortium to establish a separate legal entity to enter into the contract.

III.1.4)Other particular conditions

The performance of the contract is subject to particular conditions: yes
Description of particular conditions: Circle Housing wishes to support people who are in long term unemployment and small and medium sized enterprises, as well as supporting environmental sustainability. Accordingly, the contract may contain community benefit clauses as permitted by Regulation 39 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006.

III.2)Conditions for participation

III.2.1)Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers

III.2.2)Economic and financial ability

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: As set out in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, available via request to the contracting authority’s email address.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: As set out in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, available via request to the contracting authority’s email address.

III.2.3)Technical capacity

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met:
As set out in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, available via request to the contracting authority’s email address.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
As set out in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, available via request to the contracting authority’s email address.

III.2.4)Information about reserved contracts

III.3)Conditions specific to services contracts

III.3.1)Information about a particular profession

III.3.2)Staff responsible for the execution of the service

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Type of procedure

IV.1.1)Type of procedure

Restricted

IV.1.2)Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate

Envisaged minimum number 5: and maximum number 8

IV.1.3)Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue

IV.2)Award criteria

IV.2.1)Award criteria

The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document

IV.2.2)Information about electronic auction

An electronic auction will be used: no

IV.3)Administrative information

IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority:

2041

IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

Prior information notice

Notice number in the OJEU: 2014/S 158-284472 of 20.8.2014

IV.3.3)Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive document

Time limit for receipt of requests for documents or for accessing documents: 14.11.2014 – 17:00

IV.3.4)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

19.11.2014 – 17:00

IV.3.5)Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates

IV.3.6)Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up

English.

IV.3.7)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender

IV.3.8)Conditions for opening of tenders

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.1)Information about recurrence

This is a recurrent procurement: no

VI.2)Information about European Union funds

The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no

VI.3)Additional information

Circle Anglia Limited, trading as Circle Housing is one of the UK’s largest providers of affordable housing with 66 000 homes across the country. Our nine housing association partners provide desirable homes, sustainable communities and trusted services to around 200 000 customers. Our specialist provider Centra offers a range of support services, including telecare and home-care, as well as a choice of housing options including shared ownership and market rent. By acting with a business head and social heart, together we achieve our mission to enhance life chances by helping people to fulfil their potential and live better, more independent lives.
Circle are currently undertaking a large Business and Technology Transformation Programme called Fast Forward Circle (FFC) in order to re-organise the business in an optimal way to deliver the future strategy and vision. This will allow a greater proportion of staff to focus on front line service delivery and better meet the needs of the customers.
Technology is a key part of the FFC programme and Circle is committed to making the necessary investment in technology to transform the customer experience and enhance the way our staff work.
The key business objectives of Circle’s IT strategy are to:
– Allow our customers to engage with us in new ways, using digital technologies such as mobile apps.
– Enable our customers to access all our services on-line.
– Provide an engaging user experience to drive channel shift.
– Ensure that customers receive a consistent level of service regardless of the channel they use to interact with us.
– Support our people to be able to spend more time delivering for our customers.
– Have a single view of our customers, people and properties
The purpose of this process is to procure a suite of Front Office Technologies which will likely include a Digital Platform solution supported by a Customer Relationship Management system as well as the associated implementation services to fully support Circle’s customer service provision across all channels. The solution will also be required to provide the functionality to support partners in efficiently delivering customer service requests.
The solution should enable Circle to provide excellent levels of service, and be aligned with both current and expected future customer service and technological trends.
The proposed contract period will be from March/April 2015 to March/April 2018 with the option to extend for a further 4 years in increments of 12 months.
The expected value of this contract for provision of services to Circle is estimated at between 1 100 000 GBP and 3 150 000 GBP over the initial 3 year contract period This will include the initial implementation costs; any secondary implementation costs required for additional development of the solution; and the on-going support costs.
Circle are looking to procure a new suite of Front Office technology, rather than replacement functionality for an existing system, to support a better and more consistent customer experience; and to encourage channel shift towards ‘digital by choice’.
Circle recognises that an investment in technology is required to:
— Support Circle staff in the future contact centre (‘the interaction centre’), in face to face offices and in the back office in order to fulfil customer requests using a system which is intuitive and has an improved user interface;
— Enable staff to handle enquiries and service requests effectively and efficiently and ensure they are routed to the service areas for completion regardless of the communication channel used;
— Deliver greatly improved functionality to allow customers to securely self-serve on an enhanced platform which provides an interactive, digital experience;
— Enable Circle leadership and management to understand customer interactions and trends, and to make business and investment decisions based on robust analysis;
— Provide flexibility and opportunity for supporting employee engagement and interaction;
— Provide functionality which allows for changes to business processes, work-flow and business rules to be quickly and easily reflected / configured within the customer management solution; and
— Replace the functionality currently provided by the existing case management systems, such as the case management elements of Orchard housing (although not necessarily like for like). The systems capability should provide an easy migration from existing systems functionality.
It is expected that the supplier who is awarded this contract will provide the following:
— An integrated digital platform to provide the functionality outlined in the scope below, delivered on the infrastructure of Circle’s choosing using technology that could be hosted in the cloud using an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider as a minimum.
— The service to implement the product and migrate existing services and data as required, including technical configuration and functional testing;
— Integration of the product with other technologies as required (ERP and legacy systems including Orchard); and

— Ongoing 3^rd line support and maintenance of the solution for the duration of the contract period in line with agreed service levels.

Circle’s preference is that the service is managed by a 3^rd party as a hosted service or, if feasible, in-line with Circle’s desired end state of having enterprise systems delivered as Software as a Service. The supplier will be expected to support the transition of the service to Circle’s new strategic Infrastructure as a Service provider if required.

VI.4)Procedures for appeal

VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures

VI.4.2)Lodging of appeals

Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: Circle Housing will incorporate a minimum ten calendar day standstill period at the point information on the award of contract being advertised in this Contract Notice is communicated to tenderers. Circle Housing will conduct itself in respect of any appeals in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended).

VI.4.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
SW1A 2AS
UNITED KINGDOM

VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:

13.10.2014