Trader Support Service

Concepts

• management consultancy
• consultancy services
• trader support service
• the trader support service
• trader
• 12) months
• none continuation
• a further twelve (12) months
• twelve
• further

Location

LONDON

Description

The Trader Support Service: • provides a free end-to-end support package to manage customs declarations on behalf of traders; • educates businesses on what the Northern Ireland Protocol, subsequently replaced by the Windsor Framework, means for them, and the steps they need to take to comply with it. This includes online training sessions and webinars; • is available to businesses moving goods into Northern Ireland under processes in the Northern Ireland Protocol that started from 1 January 2021 and the subsequent arrangements under the Windsor Framework.

Ammendments to Previous Notice

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 79400000 - Business and management consultancy and related services

Indicators

• Contract modified due to additional needs.

Legal Justification

Since the TSS contract was awarded in 2020, new arrangements were agreed to be implemented under the Windsor Framework agreement. This was first discussed in "Windsor Framework: A new way forward" policy paper, published on 27 February 2023. In order to continue to support traders as the new Windsor Framework arrangements are implemented, and to ensure a period of stabilisation, HMRC has extended the TSS contract for a further 12 months. The intention is to run a procurement process in the coming months for future delivery of the service after 2025. There is a strong public interest in maintaining a consistent and high-quality service, as TSS is critical to ensuring ongoing support for traders moving goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and avoiding any disruption of trade that might otherwise occur. HMRC believes that an extension of the TSS contract for a further 12-month period complies with Regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contract Regulation 2015 for the following reasons: 1. The extension is for services that have become necessary and were not included in the initial procurement. The Windsor Framework was agreed after the initial procurement of the TSS contract and therefore the longevity of the service was not known at the time of the procurement. The extension allows for TSS to continue to deliver support to traders beyond the initial period, but with adjustments to take account of Windsor Framework requirements. 2. HMRC has concluded as follows that there are technical and economic reasons why it is impossible to change to a new contractor at the present time, and why a change of contractor would cause significant inconvenience and/ or duplication of costs: a. Windsor Framework implementation requires highly specialised expertise on the arrangements for moving goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The existing TSS contractor and delivery consortium possess such expertise and experience and without this knowledge and awareness it is believed there could be a risk to service quality. Exiting the current TSS contract on 31 December 2024 would risk key contractor staff being unavailable to implement and stabilise Windsor Framework changes. To secure availability of such staff, there is a risk of HMRC needing to pay additional costs whilst funding a transition to a new service and a re-procurement (a duplication of costs). b. Transferring the services to a different contractor before Windsor Framework changes have stabilised would risk disrupting service delivery, especially the reliability and continuity of the service as any new contractor would need to complete the transition at the same time as TSS is being updated to reflect the requirements for Windsor Framework. Support from the current contractor will continue to be required for some time following the Windsor Framework implementation to ensure a stabilised service and finish off any outstanding requirements. This would be challenging for a new contractor to achieve because of the complex nature of the service. Any disruption to the Trader Support Service's ability to support traders could impact the flow of trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. c. Work to define the detail of how the Windsor Framework is to be implemented has been an iterative process involving a range of HMRC and external stakeholders. This work is ongoing and will continue into the later stages of 2024 and will inform a final set of requirements for any future Trader Support Service. If HMRC did not extend the contract, it would need to procure a 'like-for-like' service, rather than procuring an adapted service which is better suited to future Windsor Framework requirements and more likely to achieve value-for-money. 3. As the values reflected in this modification notice show, the increase in price does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract. In summary, a change of supplier cannot be made for technical and economic reasons and would cause significant inconvenience and duplication of costs for HMRC, risking key support to traders whilst they familiarise themselves with the Windsor Framework. A contract extension until 31 December 2025 is compliant with Regulation 72(1)(b) PCR and has the additional benefit of providing HMRC with greater capacity to run a transparent and competitive procurement process for future delivery of TSS after the extension period ends.