Wageningen University did not want to put out to tender an IT project worth 1.4 million euros

Wageningen University & Research tried to skip a mandatory public tender for a major IT project and award the contract to one party. After competitors and the Financieel Dagblad asked questions, WUR reverted to this.

According to the FD, this concerns the tender for a new service system that will use ServiceNow. The system is intended for students and staff who have computer problems and can receive automatic answers to questions via the system, or who can be forwarded.

The costs for the it project amount to 1.4 million euros. Public institutions are obliged to tender for projects that cost more than EUR 200,000. The university wanted to skip the tender and have the assignment carried out by Fruition Partners.

According to the university, ServiceNow is the only platform that meets the requirements and although there are several providers that provide this, according to WUR, the chosen party is the only supplier that can deliver the package in ‘the desired way’.

Competitive software companies, 4me and TOPdesk, react surprised to the FD. They argue that the university’s processes are not so complicated that only one company can provide the software. The companies also find the amount very high and state that lower prices are normally asked in the market.

A legal adviser tells the newspaper that software companies are reluctant to go to court in such cases, because a victory does not always make sense. The tender must then still take place, but there is a good chance that the assignment will still end up with the same party, because it is, for example, drawn up very specifically. Action against this is more complicated.

After questions from the FD, WUR has announced that the market consultation ‘was not completely complete after all’ and by means of a rectification the university has withdrawn the provisional award to Fuition Partners.