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
- APUC Limited · Body governed by public law
- Value
- £2,500,000
- Procedure
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Sector
- Education & training · Education and training services (CPV 80000000)
- Region
- Scotland
- Official notice
- 042386-2025 on Find a Tender
- Timeline
-
- Contract date11 Feb 2025
- Published23 Jul 2025Published 162 days after the contract date
Description
APUC is seeking to enter into an agreement with Springer Nature to offer Scottish Higher Education Digital Library (SHEDL) members institutions access to Springer Nature online books, free of digital rights management (DRM), for up to 4 years. Additional information: The contract value is an estimate based on the potential aggregated subscription values over the possible term of 48 months. APUC will not use or make payments under this contract but will facilitate the agreement on behalf of the Scottish HE Institutions and the National Library of Scotland.
About the supplier
Springer Nature Customer Service Center GmbH: every public contract they have won.