CODA Dream Finance System Maintenance and Support Services Contract

Descriptions

Advert for CODA Dream Maintenance and Support ContractHigher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) T02HE/2011/12The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) is sponsored by the Welsh Government and acts as an intermediary body between the Welsh Government and the higher education sector in Wales. We are responsible for funding higher education (HE) in Wales and we distribute funds for education, research and related activities to higher education institutions (HEIs) in Wales with a current budget of £385m per annum. We provide advice to the Welsh Government on the funding needs, aspirations and concerns of the higher education sector. Further information about HEFCW can be found on our website at www.hefcw.ac.uk. HEFCW implemented CODA Dream in June 2005 and since then it has been developed with Hexagon, its current consultants to meet ongoing business needs. As well as CODA Dream, HEFCW uses DreamView, Task Centre, Crystal Reports and Web Acumen to create an integrated system for its day to day processing and reporting requirements. The finance team processes approximately 2,000 documents for payment per year usually paid by BACS comprising of payments to suppliers and HEIs as well as payroll related payments. HEFCW uses an electronic form for grant payment to HEIs which are profiled over a period of time. These profiles are held within Dream but only transferred to purchase ledger when they become due for payment. HEFCW uses an automated purchase order system allowing ordering and authorising to be completed outside of the finance department through the use of WebAcumen. The authorisation process is integrated with budget and contract values. The reporting systems are used to produce regular monthly and/or quarterly management information and budget information on a cash as well as accruals basis. The system holds multiple annual budgets for financial (April to March) as well as academic (August to July) years. HEFCW is seeking to appoint consultants to provide maintenance and support services and licences for its CODA Dream finance system and associated products. Support will be mainly in the form of remote support with on-site visits being kept to a minimum. The finance operational team of four is supported by an in-house IT team of three. As this is a well established system and both finance and IT staff have developed reasonable levels of knowledge, HEFCW does not anticipate support levels required to be high. HEFCW’s requirement can be split into two parts: (1) the annual renewal of the following licences:- Unit 4 CODA Dream licence-this is required for HEFCW to receive upgrades and updates. - Unit 4 CODA DreamView licence – this is used to link the Dream database to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (2)Support and consultancy and the provision of associated software licences necessary to enable HEFCW to continue its day to day activity. Prospective tenderers can bid for sections (1) or (2) or both parts. The existing contract will end on 26 June 2012. It is likely that the new contract will commence before this date to allow for an information gathering and hand over period and will be for a period of three years, with the option to extend annually for a further two years (i.e. up to a maximum of five years in total). If you wish to discuss any aspect of this advert please contact Lynne Gittens initially by email at lynne.gittens@hefcw.ac.ukThe pre-qualification questionnaire will be used to shortlist potential suppliers to proceed to the next stage of procurement, which will be the submission of a tender. A maximum of 5 suppliers will proceed to the tender stage.If you wish to tender, you must, in the first instance request a pre-qualification questionnaire from Karen Wolliner Karen.Wolliner@hefcw.ac.uk. The completed pre-qualification questionnaire must be returned by the closing date and time of 6th January 2012 at 12.00. Completed pre-qualification questionnaires must be emailed or posted to Karen Wolliner, Procurement Manager at Karen.Wolliner@hefcw.ac.uk.