Awarded without open competition
Awarded without open competition. The buyer went directly to one or a few suppliers instead of advertising the contract. Procurement rules allow this only in specific cases, such as extreme urgency, when only one supplier can do the work, or for call-offs from an existing framework.
Key facts
- Buyer
- the Education Authority · Body governed by public law
- Supplier
- Version 1 Solutions Limited
- Value
- £3,200,000
- Procedure
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Sector
- IT services · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support (CPV 72000000)
- Region
- Northern Ireland
- Official notice
- 007503-2026 on Find a Tender
- Timeline
-
- Contract date19 Jan 2026
- Published28 Jan 2026Published 9 days after the contract date
Description
As part of the Pre-School Standardisation Programme, this project will extend the EA Connect portal to provide enhanced functionality for the Pre-School Education Programme. • Enable pre-school settings to: • Submit monthly claims and receive payments via the portal, with built-in validation and audit trails. • Upload verification documents securely to the portal. • Manage and update setting details through a secure communication platform. • Real-time management of pupil attendance via an integrated register. • Participate in annual renewal and compliance processes. • Benefit from extended Admissions portal access beyond Stage 2 to accommodate non-placed pupils.
About the supplier
Version 1 Solutions Limited: every public contract they have won, plus their Companies House record (company 03438874).