ProcuraAxisBeta
Sign inCreate Free Account
Home / Opportunities / Opportunity
PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

T1142 - Finance System 2025 Direct Award

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX · Transparency notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 29 Sept 2026, 23:48.

Opportunity overview

Contract for Unit4 Business Software Limited for the provision of a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning Solution. The proposed contract term is 41 Months + 12 + 12 Months. The current on premise Unit 4 finance software is a business-critical application used by the University and its subsidiaries for the management of their finances. The University considers that the award of the contract is permitted under section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023. Section 41 allows contracting authorities to award a public contract to a non excluded supplier directly. Section 41 (5) (d) permits the award of a public contract for reasons of extreme and unavoidable urgency, the time limits for the open or competitive flexible procedures in addition to the integration and implementation services cannot be complied with. Due to Unit4's unforeseeable decision to remove support for the University's on-premises solution after 31st December 2026, the University does not consider that there is sufficient time to implement a new financial system. This would have involved gathering a full set of requirements and specification, conducting market tests, completing a full procurement exercise and integration of existing interfaces before the given deadline by Unit4. The award of a contract pursuant to section 41 (5) (d) is therefore strictly necessary, for reasons of extreme urgency, to ensure business continuity for the University of Essex from 31st December 2026. The cloud based Unit4 Enterprise Resource Planning solution provides a full suite of financial management functions. It enables budget management, expenses, purchase to pay, sales to cash, inventory management, general ledger reporting and commitment accounting. Unit4 also provides support and maintenance of the software on its cloud under this contract.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

UNIT4 BUSINESS SOFTWARE LIMITED

Matched by number
Published award value
£1.4m
Awarded
10 Apr 2025
Award ID
1
Status
active
Identifier
GB-COH 01737985
Location
London, UKI42, E14 5HU, United Kingdom

Classification

No classification was supplied.

Lots

  • Lot 1Value not stated

Documents and notices

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
T1142
Status
complete
Published risks
The University considers that the award of the contract is permitted under section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023. Section 41 allows contracting authorities to award a public contract to a non excluded supplier directly. Section 41 (5) (d) permits the award of a public contract for reasons of extreme and unavoidable urgency, the time limits for the open or competitive flexible procedures in addition to the integration and implementation services cannot be complied with. Due to Unit4's unforeseeable decision to remove support for the University's on-premises solution after 31st December 2026, the University does not consider that there is sufficient time to implement a new financial system. This would have involved gathering a full set of requirements and specification, conducting market tests, completing a full procurement exercise and integration of existing interfaces before the given deadline by Unit4. The award of a contract pursuant to section 41 (5) (d) is therefore strictly necessary, for reasons of extreme urgency, to ensure business continuity for the University of Essex from 31st December 2026.
Procurement Method
direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Why this procedure was chosen
The University considers that the award of the contract is permitted under section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023. Section 41 allows contracting authorities to award a public contract to a non excluded supplier directly. Section 41 (5) (d) permits the award of a public contract for reasons of extreme and unavoidable urgency, the time limits for the open or competitive flexible procedures in addition to the integration and implementation services cannot be complied with. Due to Unit4's unforeseeable decision to remove support for the University's on-premises solution after 31st December 2026, the University does not consider that there is sufficient time to implement a new financial system. This would have involved gathering a full set of requirements and specification, conducting market tests, completing a full procurement exercise and integration of existing interfaces before the given deadline by Unit4. The award of a contract pursuant to section 41 (5) (d) is therefore strictly necessary, for reasons of extreme urgency, to ensure business continuity for the University of Essex from 31st December 2026.

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Procedure reasons

Entry 1
Id
singleSuppliersTechnicalReasons
Entry 2
Id
urgency

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
complete

Published documents

Entry 1
Id
conflictOfInterest
Description
Not published
Document Type
conflictOfInterest

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-COH-RC000652
Name
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

Roles

buyer

Address

Region
UKH34
Country
GB
Locality
Colchester
Postal Code
CO4 3SQ
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Wivenhoe Park

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Id
publicAuthoritySubCentralGovernment
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Description
Public authority - sub-central government

Identifier

Id
RC000652
Scheme
GB-COH

Contact

Additional Identifiers

Entry 1
Id
PQBL-6931-JNGJ
Scheme
GB-PPON
Organisation 2
Id
GB-COH-01737985
Name
UNIT4 BUSINESS SOFTWARE LIMITED

Roles

supplier

Address

Region
UKI42
Country
GB
Locality
London
Postal Code
E14 5HU
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
C/O Corporation Service Company (Uk) Limited

Details

Vcse
No
Scale
sme
Sheltered Workshop
No
Public Service Mission Organization
No

Identifier

Id
01737985
Scheme
GB-COH

Contact

Additional Identifiers

Entry 1
Id
PVRP-7679-QVJG
Scheme
GB-PPON

Award information

Award 1
Id
1
Date
11 Apr 2025, 00:00
Status
active
Has Renewal
Yes
Above Threshold
Yes
Main Procurement Category
services

Items

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKH3
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 2
Region
UKH3
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 3
Region
UKH3
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Id
72211000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Programming services of systems and user software

Value

Currency
GBP
Including VAT
1,440,000

Renewal

Description
The contract is subject to renewal options after the initial 41 months. The proposed contract term is 41 Months + 12 + 12 Months

Documents

Entry 1
Id
014612-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK5
Description
Transparency notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
awardNotice
Published
11 Apr 2025, 13:25
Entry 2
Id
014621-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK6
Description
Contract award notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
awardNotice
Published
11 Apr 2025, 13:32

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-COH-01737985
Name
UNIT4 BUSINESS SOFTWARE LIMITED

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
1
Type
futureSignatureDate
Status
scheduled
Due
30 Apr 2025, 23:59

Related lots

1

Contract period

Ends
31 Jul 2029, 23:59
Starts
1 Mar 2026, 00:00
Max Extent Date
31 Jul 2031, 23:59

Standstill Period

Ends
28 Apr 2025, 23:59

Contracts and changes

Entry 1
Id
1
Title
Unit4 Enterprise Resource Planning SaaS
Status
active
Award ID
1
Date Signed
29 Apr 2025, 00:00
Has Renewal
Yes
Above Threshold
Yes
No Agreed Metrics Rationale
Standard Service support terms are included which covers the SLA's for such items as critical or high incidents and how these would be resolved rather than specific KPI's.

Value

Currency
GBP
Including VAT
1,440,000

Period

Ends
31 Jul 2029, 23:59
Starts
1 Mar 2026, 00:00
Max Extent Date
31 Jul 2031, 23:59

Renewal

Description
Initial contract term: 41 months with optional 12 months extension + an additional 12 months extension

Documents

Entry 1
Id
023521-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK7
Description
Contract details notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
contractNotice
Published
21 May 2025, 08:11

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Colchester · UKH34 · CO4 3SQ · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-05017c-2025-05-21T08:11:18+01:00Transparency notice on Find a Tender ·