Department for International Trade: Quintessentially

(asked on 4th March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the tendering process for the contract held with her Department by Quintessentially (UK) Limited was competitive and open to rival bids.


Answered by
Graham Stuart Portrait
Graham Stuart
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This question was answered on 17th March 2020

The contract was procured prior to the formation of the Department for International Trade (DIT) by UK Shared Business Services who at the time managed UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) procurement activity. DIT took ownership of UKTI’s contracts on formation. UK Shared Business Services is a shared services provider and is jointly owned by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and UK Research and Innovation. UK Shared Business Services was responsible for adding the contract to Contracts Finder before responsibility for the contract was transferred to DIT. After DIT staff noticed the contract was not on Contracts Finder, in early 2019, the contract was added.

The Department are currently running a competitive procurement for a partner for inward investment services. This will replace the current contract with Quintessentially when it expires in May 2020. A notice was published on Contracts Finder and the Official Journal of the EU in January 2020 to inform the market of this opportunity.

Quintessentially won a competitive tender in 2016 which was carried out by UK Shared Business Service who at the time managed UKTI’s procurement activity.

Key performance indicators are designed to reflect the service required and are determined on a case-by-case basis.

DIT does not hold any other contracts with Quintessentially (UK) Limited in addition to the contract for the GREAT Investors Programme.

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