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
- Harper Adams University · Body governed by public law
- Supplier
- Softcat PLC
- Value
- £577,250
- Procedure
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Sector
- IT services · Software-related services (CPV 72260000)
- Region
- West Midlands
- Official notice
- 032928-2026 on Find a Tender
- Timeline
-
- Contract date9 Feb 2026
- Published10 Apr 2026Published 60 days after the contract date
Description
Academic Operations platform (AOP) is required to streamline academic planning, reduce operational costs, improve staff and student experience, and to enable the University to better meet its strategic objectives of digital transformation, sustainability, and educational excellence. The AOP will be used for curriculum management, workload planning, scheduling (including resource and exam management), publishing and student allocation, and student evaluation and reporting. 4 year agreement to be procured via the NHS SBS Digital Workplace Solutions 2 framework.
About the supplier
Softcat PLC: every public contract they have won, plus their Companies House record (company 02174990).