Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the notice entitled Provision of Support and Maintenance for the Central Digital Platform, for what reason the variation was designated as negotiated procedure without a prior call for competition – extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority.

The original contract for the Provision of Support and Maintenance for the Central Digital Platform was awarded following a competitive tender process conducted under the Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) 6 Framework. The Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency (VEAT) notice was published to give notice of our intention to vary the contract. There was a clerical error when publishing the VEAT which inadvertently led to the notice advising that the change was in response to extreme urgency. This was not the case and the decision was made purely on the grounds of value for money.

No subcontractor resources which are deployed under the contract are located in or have supply-chain links to jurisdictions designated by the National Cyber Security Centre as high-risk for data-security purposes.