T1142 - Finance System 2025 Direct Award

Contract for Unit4 Business Software Limited for the provision of a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning Solution. The proposed contract term is 41 Months + 12 + 12 Months.

The current on premise Unit 4 finance software is a business-critical application used by the University and its subsidiaries for the management of their finances.

The University considers that the award of the contract is permitted under section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023. Section 41 allows contracting authorities to award a public contract to a non excluded supplier directly. Section 41 (5) (d) permits the award of a public contract for reasons of extreme and unavoidable urgency, the time limits for the open or competitive flexible procedures in addition to the integration and implementation services cannot be complied with.

Due to Unit4's unforeseeable decision to remove support for the University's on-premises solution after 31st December 2026, the University does not consider that there is sufficient time to implement a new financial system.

This would have involved gathering a full set of requirements and specification, conducting market tests, completing a full procurement exercise and integration of existing interfaces before the given deadline by Unit4. The award of a contract pursuant to section 41 (5) (d) is therefore strictly necessary, for reasons of extreme urgency, to ensure business continuity for the University of Essex from 31st December 2026.

The cloud based Unit4 Enterprise Resource Planning solution provides a full suite of financial management functions. It enables budget management, expenses, purchase to pay, sales to cash, inventory management, general ledger reporting and commitment accounting. Unit4 also provides support and maintenance of the software on its cloud under this contract.