National Data Dashboard for Children's Social Care Placements

The contract will be awarded directly under section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023, relying on the justification at Schedule 5, paragraph 5 (single supplier – exclusive rights).

The Supplier holds the intellectual property rights required to supply the services under this contract. These rights include copyright in the software codebase and technical documentation, database rights in the data architecture and configuration, and proprietary rights in the analytical models and algorithms developed for the Dashboard.

This contract is for the enhancement and national scaling of an existing, live platform that is already in operational use by c. 62 local authorities. The services cannot reasonably be separated from the existing platform: they require direct access to and modification of the codebase, data models, and system configuration that Supplier owns. Procuring a replacement platform from an alternative supplier would deliver different services (a new-build platform) that would require: (i) a full competitive procurement; (ii) platform design, build, testing and implementation; (iii) re-establishment of local authority data integrations; (iv) disruption to the local authorities currently using the existing system; and (v) delay of at least 18 months to the national rollout required to meet policy objectives. In the Authority’s assessment, this would not constitute a reasonable alternative to the enhancement of the existing platform, since it entails a different approach with different outcomes, extended timescales and greater risk.