LinkedIn Licence Award · UK public procurement notice

CPV: Job search services

Procedure method

Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition

Legal basis

CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded without competition

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Direct award (no call for competition)

GPA / WTO covered

Yes (GPA)

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

4 Nov 2022, 14:25 GMT

Last source update

4 Nov 2022, 14:25 GMT

FTS notice number

2022/S 000-031251

Classification (CPV)

Job search services

Delivery area

UK

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-037f3b Find a Tender

Why no open competition

The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive

Published justification

The justification is as per PCR 2015, Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) as follows:

The Defence People - Civ HR, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to award a two-year contract with a value of £360,316 to LinkedIn for LinkedIn License for MOD external vacancies.

In accordance with the provisions of The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 SI No. 2020/1319, this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) as amended (in particular by SI 2020/1319). Prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union is no longer appropriate. It is considered that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the UK e-notification service (in accordance with the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the PCR 2015 because competition is absent for technical reasons.

This is because LinkedIn is the only provider (there is no alternative supplier offering their services) enabling business areas to showcase prospective candidates what it is like to work for them using a variety of content including adverts/featured content/testimonies before prospective candidates place an application for the advertised role.

LinkedIn is the only company that provides hiring solutions services to customers within Europe, middle east & Africa. Its hiring and social networking solution is unique and as such, a direct competition process isn’t viable. Other companies like, ‘Facebook’, ‘Bark’, ‘Opportunity’, and ‘Xing’, offer similar social networking platforms but with limited professional reach, unlike LinkedIn. There are clear differences in the services on offer and the scale of reach in terms of target audience. Of these four companies, none have a comparable level of professional and global presence and therefore this would not enable MOD to source quality talent and in turn build and sustain a more diverse workforce. This would detrimentally impact on MOD ability to fill our roles and deliver MOD key objectives.

Given the above there are no other value-for-money alternatives to consider which will enable the Authority to promote MOD as an employer, advertise vacancies and additional products (recruiter directly reach out to prospective candidates).

• LinkedInAwarded supplier Gardner House, Wilton Place, Dublin, IE

No document links were published on the notice.