United Utilities has made a direct contract award for SAP annual support and maintenance renewal with an estimated total value of approx £2.74 million (inc VAT) without going out to competition.
The water company has issued a transparency notice informing the market of its intention to renew its annual SAP support and maintenance contract for its existing SAP estate with SAP (UK) Ltd.
United Utilities currently relies on the SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) platform as a core business-critical system and requires continued SAP support and maintenance to secure uninterrupted support of critical business systems.
The company has a 12 month renewal option in place - the contract reflects the renewal for the next 12-month period.
Earliest date the contract will be signed is 1 January 2026 and current estimated start and end contract dates are 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026, with a possible further extension option to 31 December 2027.
United Utilities is exercising the 12 month extension permitted under the renewal provisions in the original contract. The extension may be used to further renew SAP support and maintenance beyond the current period 1st January 2026 to 31st December 2026.
The water company has set out its reasons for the direct award justification as follows:
The public contract concerns the supply of goods, services or works by the existing supplier, which are intended as an extension to or partial replacement of existing goods, services or works in circumstances where
- a change in supplier would result in the contracting authority receiving goods, services or works that are different from or incompatible with the existing goods services or works;
- the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance.
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