AWARD OUTCOME
What happened
Canterbury Christ Church University has published a transparency notice proposing a direct award to JOHN SMITH & SON GROUP LIMITED for a student payment platform that automates refunds or returns of funds to students. The award remains pending; the notice schedules signature for 1 November 2026.
Published outcomeOne pending award, covering lot 1, names JOHN SMITH & SON GROUP LIMITED. The published award value is £845,000 excluding VAT (£1,014,000 including VAT).
Market significanceThis is an above-threshold direct award for a platform already used by the University. The buyer cites continuity, implementation maturity and reduced internal capacity for a competitive replacement procurement.
AWARDED SUPPLIERS AND LOTS
1 supplier record analysed
JOHN SMITH & SON GROUP LIMITED
99% confidenceAward 1 · Lots 1 · 845000 excluding VAT; 1014000 including VAT (published award-level value) GBP · Pending award
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Verified supplier identity is JOHN SMITH & SON GROUP LIMITED (company number SC006905). Award 1 names this supplier, has status “pending”, and states £845,000 net / £1,014,000 gross.
LIFECYCLE
Award or contract stage
Notice and procurement status
99% confidenceTransparency notice published; procurement marked complete, but award is pending.
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The notice is a “Transparency notice on Find a Tender”; tender status is “complete” and award 1 status is “pending”.
Signature status
99% confidenceFuture signature scheduled for 1 November 2026; no signed contract is evidenced.
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Award milestone type is “futureSignatureDate”, due 2026-11-01T23:59:59Z, with status “scheduled”.
Planned contract period
98% confidence1 November 2026 to 31 August 2031.
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Award 1 contractPeriod specifies startDate 2026-11-01 and endDate 2031-08-31.
VALUES
Published values explained
Published award value excluding VAT
99% confidence£845,000
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Award 1 value.amount is 845000 GBP.
Published award value including VAT
99% confidence£1,014,000
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Award 1 value.amountGross is 1014000 GBP.
Value allocation
97% confidenceThe published value is for award 1 and has not been separately broken down by lot or pricing component.
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Award 1 contains a total value and relates to lot 1; no lot-level value or pricing breakdown is supplied.
TIMELINE
Procurement timeline
Notice publication
99% confidence8 October 2026
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The transparency notice was published at 2026-10-08T17:08:10+01:00.
Scheduled signature date
99% confidence1 November 2026
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Award 1 records a scheduled futureSignatureDate of 2026-11-01T23:59:59Z.
Planned service start
98% confidence1 November 2026
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Award 1 contractPeriod startDate is 2026-11-01T00:00:00Z.
Planned end
98% confidence31 August 2031
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Award 1 contractPeriod endDate is 2031-08-31T23:59:59+01:00.
SCOPE
What was awarded
Requirement
99% confidenceStudent payment platform/service automating refunds or returns of funds to students.
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The published description states that the service automates providing refunds or returning funds to students.
Procurement category
98% confidenceServices; classified as CPV 66600000, Treasury services.
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Award 1 lists mainProcurementCategory as services and CPV 66600000 (Treasury services).
Lot structure
99% confidenceOne published lot (lot 1); no lot title or detailed lot description supplied.
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The tender and award each relate to lot 1; the lot record has no title or description.
Delivery coverage
98% confidenceDelivery addresses cover UK regions UKC, UKD, UKE, UKF, UKG, UKH, UKI, UKJ and UKK.
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Award item 1 lists those delivery regions.
PROCEDURE
Procedure and competition
Procedure
99% confidenceDirect award.
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The procurementMethod and procurementMethodDetails are “direct” and “Direct award”.
Threshold
99% confidenceAbove threshold.
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Award 1 has aboveThreshold set to true.
Stated direct-award rationale
99% confidenceThe buyer says the existing Aspire platform has been used for three years, is embedded in operations and meets requirements. It cites organisational restructuring, reduced staffing capacity, continuity risk and the resource and disruption involved in retendering and implementation.
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Published procurementMethodRationale provides these reasons.
Competition information
98% confidenceNo competitive bidding process, bidder count, evaluation scores or comparative pricing information is published.
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The procedure is a direct award and the notice supplies no bidder, score or pricing-comparison data.
CONTRACT TERMS
Published contract terms
Contract period
98% confidencePlanned from 1 November 2026 to 31 August 2031.
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Award 1 contractPeriod specifies these dates.
Signature and commencement
99% confidenceSignature is scheduled, not evidenced as completed; service commencement is planned for the same date.
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The futureSignatureDate milestone is scheduled for 1 November 2026 and contractPeriod starts on 1 November 2026.
Extension or renewal terms
99% confidenceUnknown; no extension options or renewal terms are published.
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No option, extension or renewal-term fields are supplied.
COMMERCIAL VIEW
Commercial observations
Continuity-led procurement
98% confidenceThe buyer frames the direct award as a continuity and implementation-risk decision, retaining an embedded incumbent platform rather than conducting a replacement procurement.
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The direct-award rationale says the Aspire platform is fully implemented and embedded, and identifies cost, disruption, resource demands and business-continuity risk from replacement.
Published financial scale
98% confidenceThe pending award has a published net value of £845,000 over the planned term, but no annual profile, transaction volumes, fee model or pricing schedule is provided.
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Award 1 states £845,000 net; no further pricing or volume detail is supplied.
DATA QUALITY
Gaps and source limitations
Award not yet concluded
99% confidenceThe notice reports a pending award and a scheduled future signature date. It does not evidence a signed or active contract.
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Award 1 status is pending and its futureSignatureDate milestone is scheduled.
Information not supplied in the published notice
98% confidenceNo award decision date, bid count, evaluation detail, lot title, lot-level value, pricing breakdown, extension terms or renewal terms are published.
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These fields are absent from the supplied notice data.
Supplier identity quality
99% confidenceSupplier identity is verified by company number. The source uses the abbreviation “LTD”; the verified legal name is “JOHN SMITH & SON GROUP LIMITED”.
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Supplier verification reports company-number matching for SC006905 and verified company name JOHN SMITH & SON GROUP LIMITED.
SOURCE DATA LIMITATIONS
Information not supplied in the published notice
- The published record is a pending award with a scheduled signature date, not evidence of a concluded or active contract.
- No award decision date, bid count, evaluation results, detailed pricing, transaction volumes, lot title, lot-level value, extension options or renewal terms are supplied.
- The direct-award rationale refers to the incumbent Aspire platform, but the notice does not publish a separate contractual trading-name mapping beyond the named supplier.
MARKET THEMES
Relevant award themes
Canterbury Christ Church UniversityStudent Payment PlatformJOHN SMITH & SON GROUP LIMITEDdirect awardstudent refundsFind a Tendertransparency notice
COMMON QUESTIONS
About this award
Who is named for the Student Payment Platform award?
JOHN SMITH & SON GROUP LIMITED (company number SC006905) is named on pending award 1.
What is the published value?
The award value is £845,000 excluding VAT and £1,014,000 including VAT.
Has the contract been signed?
No signed contract is evidenced. The notice records the award as pending and schedules signature for 1 November 2026.
Why was a direct award used?
The buyer cites the incumbent platform’s operational integration, reduced internal capacity, and continuity and implementation risks associated with retendering and replacement.
ProcuraAxis award analysis supplements, but does not replace, the official award notice, contract data or procurement documents. “Awarded” does not by itself prove that a contract has been signed.