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
- Walsall Council · Regional or local authority
- Supplier
- Microsoft Limited
- Value
- £411,663
- Procedure
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Sector
- IT services · Software consultancy services (CPV 72266000)
- Region
- West Midlands
- Official notice
- 016039-2026 on Find a Tender
- Timeline
-
- Contract date28 Jan 2026
- Published23 Feb 2026Published 26 days after the contract date
Description
The Council now requires an equivalent modern and comprehensive support solution for the full Microsoft product set. Core components of the Council's technology environment, such as user authentication, rely entirely on Microsoft platforms. For example, all user logins are held within Azure Active Directory. If Azure Active Directory were to fail, staff would be unable to access the Council's network, which would in turn block access to all systems including the critical systems listed above. It is therefore essential that the Council can access direct, timely and authoritative support from Microsoft at any time in order to prevent, mitigate or quickly resolve any major issues. The Council needs a support agreement for Microsoft technologies and services to ensure continuity of service. The support agreement shall provide: 24/7 technical support; giving the Council direct access to Microsoft Support Services which will respond to critical issues within 30 minutes. as needed advisory s…
About the supplier
Microsoft Limited: every public contract they have won, plus their Companies House record (company 00162429).