← Back to opportunities

Digital Asset Management

OAK NATIONAL ACADEMY LIMITED

Buyer Contact Info

Buyer Name: OAK NATIONAL ACADEMY LIMITED

Buyer Address: 1 Scott Place, Manchester, UKD33, M3 3AA, United Kingdom

Contact Email: procurement@thenational.academy

Status
complete
Procedure
direct
Value
20085.0 GBP
Published
16 Jun 2025, 09:49
Deadline
n/a
Contract Start
31 May 2025, 23:00
Contract End
31 May 2026, 22:59
Category
n/a
CPV
72212517 - IT software development services
Region
n/a
Awarded To
Cloudinary UK Ltd
Official Source
Open Find a Tender

Description

This contract is being directly awarded to Cloudinary under Section 41(1)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023 on the basis that Cloudinary is the only supplier capable of delivering the required service for technical reasons. The contract supports the Oak National Academy's core platform, which enables free-to-access educational content aligned with the national curriculum. The Oak platform is uniquely reliant on Cloudinary's proprietary image and video processing infrastructure. This dependency is hard-coded within the platform's architecture and embedded across hundreds of thousands of content items used by schools across England. Replicating this technical solution, or migrating to an alternative provider, would result in disproportionate operational disruption, high cost, and unacceptable delay to service continuity, particularly during the academic year. Market testing has confirmed that no other supplier offers a solution compatible with Oak's existing content schema, metadata frameworks, or custom delivery APIs without fundamental redevelopment of the platform. As such, Cloudinary remains the only supplier technically capable of meeting the current requirements without significant re-engineering of critical systems. This contract is therefore not the result of an artificial narrowing of the parameters of competition, but a reflection of the bespoke and irreplaceable nature of Cloudinary's embedded role in Oak's educational content delivery system.

Linked Documents

No linked documents found for this notice.

Opportunity Context

Lots

Lot 1 Status: complete

Raw Notice JSON

Expand raw payload
{
  "awards": [
    {
      "id": "1",
      "items": [
        {
          "additionalClassifications": [
            {
              "description": "IT software development services",
              "id": "72212517",
              "scheme": "CPV"
            }
          ],
          "deliveryAddresses": [
            {
              "country": "GB",
              "countryName": "United Kingdom",
              "region": "UK"
            }
          ],
          "id": "1",
          "relatedLot": "1"
        }
      ],
      "mainProcurementCategory": "services",
      "relatedLots": [
        "1"
      ],
      "status": "active",
      "suppliers": [
        {
          "id": "GB-FTS-151397",
          "name": "Cloudinary UK Ltd"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "buyer": {
    "id": "GB-COH-14174888",
    "name": "OAK NATIONAL ACADEMY LIMITED"
  },
  "contracts": [
    {
      "aboveThreshold": false,
      "awardID": "1",
      "dateSigned": "2025-06-01T00:00:00+01:00",
      "documents": [
        {
          "datePublished": "2025-06-16T10:49:28+01:00",
          "description": "Contract details notice on Find a Tender",
          "documentType": "contractNotice",
          "format": "text/html",
          "id": "032500-2025",
          "noticeType": "UK7",
          "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/032500-2025"
        }
      ],
      "hasRenewal": true,
      "id": "1",
      "period": {
        "endDate": "2026-05-31T23:59:59+01:00",
        "maxExtentDate": "2027-05-31T23:59:59+01:00",
        "startDate": "2025-06-01T00:00:00+01:00"
      },
      "renewal": {
        "description": "This contract represents a continuation of a previously awarded bespoke enterprise licence agreement with Cloudinary. The extension covers a 12-month renewal of services originally procured to support the technical infrastructure of the Oak National Academy\u0027s digital content platform.\nThis renewal is necessary to maintain seamless delivery of existing educational services embedded with Cloudinary\u0027s proprietary digital asset management technology. The terms of the extension are consistent with the original scope and pricing model, adjusted only for updated licensing and support provisions as per the enterprise subscription.\nThe contract has not been materially altered beyond what was foreseen at the time of the original award. No new services, deliverables, or functional changes have been introduced. The extension ensures operational continuity during a period of strategic review and avoids disproportionate technical and financial risk associated with a re-platforming exercise.\nThis extension is compliant with Section 41(1)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023, on the basis that the service can only be provided by Cloudinary for technical reasons and due to embedded architecture. With an option to extend for a further 12 months, subject to performance and budget availability"
      },
      "status": "active",
      "value": {
        "amount": 20085,
        "amountGross": 24111,
        "currency": "GBP"
      }
    }
  ],
  "date": "2025-06-16T10:49:28+01:00",
  "id": "032500-2025",
  "initiationType": "tender",
  "language": "en",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-05490c",
  "parties": [
    {
      "additionalIdentifiers": [
        {
          "id": "PWYQ-7722-NDVX",
          "scheme": "GB-PPON"
        }
      ],
      "address": {
        "country": "GB",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "locality": "Manchester",
        "postalCode": "M3 3AA",
        "region": "UKD33",
        "streetAddress": "1 Scott Place"
      },
      "contactPoint": {
        "email": "procurement@thenational.academy"
      },
      "details": {
        "classifications": [
          {
            "description": "Public authority - central government",
            "id": "publicAuthorityCentralGovernment",
            "scheme": "UK_CA_TYPE"
          }
        ]
      },
      "id": "GB-COH-14174888",
      "identifier": {
        "id": "14174888",
        "scheme": "GB-COH"
      },
      "name": "OAK NATIONAL ACADEMY LIMITED",
      "roles": [
        "buyer"
      ]
    },
    {
      "address": {
        "country": "GB",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "locality": "London",
        "postalCode": "EC4M 7AU",
        "region": "UKI31",
        "streetAddress": "30 Old\u202fBailey,"
      },
      "contactPoint": {
        "email": "support@cloudinary.com"
      },
      "details": {
        "scale": "large",
        "vcse": false
      },
      "id": "GB-FTS-151397",
      "name": "Cloudinary UK Ltd",
      "roles": [
        "supplier"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "tag": [
    "award",
    "contract"
  ],
  "tender": {
    "description": "This contract is being directly awarded to Cloudinary under Section 41(1)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023 on the basis that Cloudinary is the only supplier capable of delivering the required service for technical reasons. The contract supports the Oak National Academy\u0027s core platform, which enables free-to-access educational content aligned with the national curriculum.\nThe Oak platform is uniquely reliant on Cloudinary\u0027s proprietary image and video processing infrastructure. This dependency is hard-coded within the platform\u0027s architecture and embedded across hundreds of thousands of content items used by schools across England. Replicating this technical solution, or migrating to an alternative provider, would result in disproportionate operational disruption, high cost, and unacceptable delay to service continuity, particularly during the academic year.\nMarket testing has confirmed that no other supplier offers a solution compatible with Oak\u0027s existing content schema, metadata frameworks, or custom delivery APIs without fundamental redevelopment of the platform. As such, Cloudinary remains the only supplier technically capable of meeting the current requirements without significant re-engineering of critical systems.\nThis contract is therefore not the result of an artificial narrowing of the parameters of competition, but a reflection of the bespoke and irreplaceable nature of Cloudinary\u0027s embedded role in Oak\u0027s educational content delivery system.",
    "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-05490c",
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "2023/54",
      "scheme": "UKPGA",
      "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents"
    },
    "lots": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "status": "complete"
      }
    ],
    "procurementMethod": "direct",
    "procurementMethodDetails": "Below threshold - without competition",
    "status": "complete",
    "title": "Digital Asset Management"
  }
}