Contract for Homologation - Garden Assistance Scheme 2023 - 2025 (Lot 1 - Mini-Competition)
North Lanarkshire Council · 15 February 2023
Back to Housing Committee — 15 February 2023 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Housing Services Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref: Date: 15 February 2023 Contract Award for Garden Assistance Scheme 2023 – 2025 (Lot 1 – Mini-Competition) From Stephen Llewellyn, Chief Officer, Housing Management E-mail Llewellyns@northlan.gov.uk Telephone: 01698 274192 / 07939280680 Executive Summary Committee is asked to homologate the award of a Call-Off contract for Garden Assistance Scheme (Lot 1) 2023 – 2025 (the ‘Contract’) to Id Verde Ltd. The Call-Off Contract is for a period of 24 months anticipated to commence on 06 March 2023. The value of the Call-Off Contract shall not exceed One Million Two Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling (£1,200,000) exclusive of VAT. Recommendations It is recommended that Committee homologates the award of the Call-Off Contract to Id Verde Ltd at the maximum value of One Million Two Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling (£1,200,000) exclusive of VAT. This recommendation follows the completion of a procurement procedure, where the tender recommended for award has been evaluated as providing the most economically advantageous tender in terms of cost and quality for the Council. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities Ambition Statement (17) Ensure we keep our environment clean, safe, and attractive 1. Background 1.1 The requirements within the Call-off Contract are currently under contract with Tivoli Group Ltd. This contract is due to expire on 5 March 2023 with the Call-off Contract detailed within this report due to supersede it.
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1.2 The Housing Service currently provides a Garden Assistance Scheme for elderly and infirm tenants/residents of North Lanarkshire. The service is provided free of charge for Council tenants and on a chargeable basis for Owner Occupiers and tenants of other Registered Social Landlords or Private Landlords. 1.3 Through this Call-Off Contract service users receive 9 grass cuts, 3 hedge cuts, 2 weedkills and 2 occurrences of edging throughout the growing season between approximately March and October each year. 1.4 The Garden Assistance Scheme is currently serviced in 2 Lots, with each Lot covering a different geographical area of North Lanarkshire. Lot 1 serves the North Areas of North Lanarkshire including Coatbridge, Airdrie, Cumbernauld, Kilsyth, Moodiesburn, Bargeddie and surrounding areas, and Lot 2 serves the South areas including Bellshill, Motherwell, Wishaw, Shotts and surrounding areas. 1.5 In 2020 the service procured a Framework Agreement specifically for services required to provide the Garden Assistance Scheme for tenants and residents for the period 2021 – 2024, with the option to extend the contract for a further year until 2025. 1.6 There are currently three companies on the Framework Agreement for Lot 1 of the Garden Assistance Scheme, each of these companies are able to service the requirements of the contract however due to the financial impact of the Covid pandemic and the ongoing increases in the cost of living and fuel charges each of the companies have expressed and inability to provide the services for Lot 1 at the originally agreed price in the Framework Agreement. 1.7 It was agreed, to allow us to continue to provide a garden service for the remaining term of the contract that we would carry out a mini-competition between the contractors on the framework, whereby we would carry forward the quality scores from the original tender exercise and allow the contractors to resubmit the pricing schedule allowing us to award the remaining term of the contract to the company providing the most economically advantageous service. 1.8 While there is only one year of the original contract left to be serviced, the original Framework Agreement did have the option to extend for one year. It was agreed it would be less favourable for contractors to incur the costs of obtaining the additional machinery etc required to service this Call-Off Contract for one year and that we would be likely obtain more favourable responses by taking in the original extension year that was available through the Framework Agreement and offering this as a two-year Call-Off Contract for the period 2023 -2025. 2. Report 2.1 A user intelligence group (the ‘UIG’) of technical and procurement representatives was formed to review technical specifications, discuss trading processes, market conditions and trends, ways to maximise community benefits and sustainability and to agree the procurement strategy that would deliver maximum benefit for the Council via the Call-Off Contract. 2.2 The initial estimated value of the Call-Off Contract dictated that the procurement procedure be undertaken in accordance with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
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2.3 The procurement procedure was undertaken as a “Mini Competition” from the Council’s own framework agreement for the Garden Assistance Scheme and Ad-Hoc Garden Works 2021 – 2024, Lot 1 (North) Garden Assistance Scheme. 2.4 The Contract award recommendation is made on the basis of the tenderer who submitted the most economically advantageous tender. 2.5 The tender(s) submitted by Id Verde Ltd has been evaluated as representing the most economically advantageous tender for this Contract. 2.6 Appendix 1 confirms the scoring achieved by each tenderer, further details of the procurement procedure is provided in Appendix 2 and the SME status and location of all tenderers is located within Appendix 3. 2.7 The value of the Contract is One Million Forty-Two Thousand One Hundred and Seven Pounds Sterling (£1,042,107) exclusive of VAT. 2.8 The costs associated with contract delivery will be contained within the Revenue and Capital budget for Housing Services. Price Savings / Increases 2.9 The pre-tender wholelife estimate for the Call-Off Contract was £1,200,000. The pre-tender estimate was based on the current number of service users utilising the service against the current spend, taking account of current trends in price increases / inflation etc. The provision of this service is demand led and therefore the actual spend may vary marginally from the contract value. Price Stability 2.10 The price for the services provided is fixed for the 24-month term of the Call-Off Contract. Community Benefits 2.11.1 The Council is committed to maximising the delivery of community benefits. The procurement included a community benefit requirement, this approach is designed to deliver local community benefits where possible. 2.11.2 Within their tender, Id Verde Ltd. committed to deliver the following community benefits within the Contract: Community Benefit Type Quantity Committed New Job for an Apprentice from a Priority Group 2
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Educational Support & Skills transfer 1 Non-financial Support for a Community Project / Organisation 2 Educational Visits 2 2.11.3 The community benefits delivered as part of the Call-Off Contract includes the creation of jobs or apprenticeships. Fair Work First 2.12 Within their tender submission, Id Verde Ltd advised that they will commit to the following areas of the Scottish Governments “Fair Work First” initiative: • They are committed to having all employees paid the Living Wage or higher; • They do not use zero hour contracts; • They are an Equal Opportunities Employer who actively aim to address the gender balance; • They offer flexible working where possible to accommodate work life balance; • They offer a Pension Scheme; Childcare vouchers; Occupational Health Surveillance and an Employee Assistance Programme. Contract Management 2.13 Officers from Housing Solutions will be responsible for managing the Contract which will be undertaken in accordance with the Councils agreed approach to contract and supplier management. 3. Measures of success The Call-Off Contract will deliver the following outcomes; 3.1 This Call-Off Contract will provide a Garden Assistance Scheme to elderly and infirm tenants and residents living in the Northern areas of North Lanarkshire (Coatbridge, Airdrie, Cumbernauld. Moodiesburn, Bargeddie and surrounding areas). It will provide service users with 9 grass cuts with edging on 2 of these visits, 3 hedge cuts and 2 weedkills throughout the growing season between approximately March and October each year. 4. Supporting documents Appendix 1 Summary of Tender Evaluation Process Appendix 2 Summary of Procurement Process Appendix 3 SME Status and Location of All Tenderers Stephen Llewellyn Chief Officer of Housing Management
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5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The Garden Assistance Scheme has a positive impact on residents with the protected characteristics of age and disability as it provides a service for elderly and disabled tenants/ residents of North Lanarkshire to assist them with the maintenance and upkeep of the garden area at their property. This may assist in enabling elderly / disabled tenants and residents to live independently within the community. If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The contractor appointed to this contract will recycle all garden waste arising from the grass cuts appropriately within the tenants / resident’s garden waste bins, contributing to the council and national targets for the recycling of garden waste. 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services.
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Appendix 1 – Summary of Tender Evaluation Process Final Rank Tenderer Name Total Tender Score (%) Recommended for Contract Award (Y / N) 1 Id Verde Ltd 94.80% Y 2 Glendale Grounds Management Ltd 92.70% N 3 Tivoli Group Ltd 84.57% N
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Appendix 2 – Summary of Procurement Process Response CPT Contract Reference Allocated: NLC-CPT-22-141 Tender Platform Utilised: PCS-Tender (PCST) Procurement Procedure Utilised: Mini Competition Governing Legislation / Regulations: Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 Date Contract Strategy Approved: 13 December 2022 Date Contract Notice Published: 13 December 2022 Number of Companies Invited to Take Part: Three SME % of Expressions of Interest: 67% NLC Based % of Expressions of Interest: 0% Tender Return Deadline: 21 December 2022 Number of Tenders Received: Three Tenders Received from SME’s: Two Tenders Received from NLC Based Tenderers: None Number of Non−compliant Tenders: None Number of Compliant Tenders: Three Number of Recommended Tenderers: One Basis of Contract Award: Quality: 30% Price: 70% Evaluation Team: Karen McGettigan, Housing Operations Manager, Price Evaluator; Tracey Paterson, Senior Clerical Assistant, Price Evaluator; Jennifer Lauder, Senior Clerical Assistant, Price Evaluator Anticipated Contract Start Date: 06 March 2023 Total Contract Period (Months): 24 Months Maximum Total Contract Value: £1,200,000
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Appendix 3 – SME Status and location of all Tenderers Name of Tenderer Size of Tendering Organisation (Micro, Small, Medium or Large) Location (Local Authority / Council Area) Id Verde Ltd Large Warwickshire Glendale Grounds Management Ltd Medium Lancashire Tivoli Group Ltd Medium Cheshire