Payment Solution Services for University Student Records Integration

University of Keele is awarding a contract to Flywire Payments Limited for an integrated payment solution platform. The services include student payment processing, integration with the University's Tribal SITS student records system, outgoing payables processing, and optional modules for Collections Management and Deposits. This direct award contract is being published in accordance with Section 53 of the Procurement Act 2023. The University is upgrading to Tribal SITS V11.0 in May 2026, after which existing payment pathways will no longer be supported. Flywire has demonstrated integration expertise with Tribal SITS across 20+ universities, reducing manual reconciliation and implementation risks. Alternative suppliers would require substantial time and cost to develop equivalent integrations, creating unacceptable delays to time-critical student payment and cash flow services. This direct award under Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 (Paragraphs 7 and 25) represents the most cost-effective and timely approach to ensure continuity of payment services during the system upgrade.