Delay Repay Administration and Claims Processing Services

Description

South Western Railway Limited ("SWR") intends to directly award a contract for the provision of Delay Repay administration and customer compensation processing services. The services comprise the receipt, validation, assessment and processing of Delay Repay claims submitted by passengers, together with associated customer contact to support appeals, payment administration, management information reporting, systems support and related operational services required to enable SWR to discharge its obligations under its Services Agreement and industry arrangements. The contract will operate as a transitional ("bridging") arrangement pending implementation of the future industry-wide centralised Delay Repay solution currently being developed and procured on behalf of Great British Railways. The objective of the contract is to ensure continuity of service, maintain existing service quality standards and facilitate an orderly transition to the future national solution. The contract will contain provisions permitting early termination by SWR in order to align the contract duration with implementation of the future industry solution and to support a managed transition of services.

Key facts

Procedure

Direct award

Lots

1

Contact

ProcurementandContracts@swrailway.com

Contract period

27 Nov 2026 → 26 Nov 2029

Value incl. VAT

£5.9m

Category

services

Awarded suppliers

• First Customer Contact Limited · GB-COH-07939526 · UKI32, GB

Ground given for limiting competition

The buyer’s own stated reason for awarding without open competition, as published. Their assertion, not a finding.

The services are currently provided by First Customer Contact Limited (FCC) under existing arrangements that support SWR's operational delivery of Delay Repay obligations. SWR is implementing a temporary bridging arrangement pending deployment of a future industry-wide centralised Delay Repay solution. The bridging arrangement (contract) will contain provisions permitting early termination by SWR to ensure SWR can transition to the future industry solution as it becomes available. FCC currently operates the established interfaces, workflows, processing logic, historic claims data environment, customer communication channels and operational processes supporting SWR's Delay Repay obligations and is uniquely positioned to maintain continuity whilst supporting migration to the future national solution. Introduction of an alternative supplier for the interim period would require migration of live claims processing activities and historic claims data, reconfiguration and integration of operational interfaces and payment processes, implementation of revised customer communication arrangements, operational training, and extensive testing and assurance before service commencement. SWR estimates that these activities would require a mobilisation period of approximately 6 months and would introduce material technical and operational risks to the continuity of Delay Repay services during the transitional period. SWR has considered whether there are reasonable alternative means of meeting the requirement. Given the temporary nature of the requirement, the existing technical and operational dependencies, and the anticipated migration to the future industry-wide centralised Delay Repay solution, SWR considers that establishing an alternative interim technical and operational solution would require substantial integration and migration activity only for that solution subsequently to be replaced by the national solution. SWR has therefore concluded that there is no reasonable alternative capable of meeting the requirement within the necessary timeframe while maintaining continuity of the existing Delay Repay service.