Decision

To award a contract to Envirotec for 2 years with the option of 2 further years via direct award under the EEM framework

Reasons for the decision

The council surveyors team currently provides support to the councils owned, commercial and housing properties with regards to management of asbestos. This service required specialist surveying, air testing and record keeping which is currently outsourced to a specialist contractor Environtec Limited.

The Council's current contract with Environtec expires in July 2026 and in order to continue with service delivery a new contract is required. The management of asbestos is a statutory duty as is the keeping of appropriate records, this is essential to ensuring that we can provide contractors working on our properties with up to date, compliant and factual records in accordance with CAR2012 (Control of asbestos regulations 2012).

Environtec are currently integrated with the councils asbestos record keeping software system teams which the surveyors team has been working to create with Environtec since 2021/2022. It is considered to be working to a high standard with no ongoing issues. The council would therefore seek to continue its current relationship with Environtec. Given the anticipated spend of £160k over 4 years under the councils contract standing orders we should either; undertake a competitive procurement exercise seeking no less than 5 quotes or use an existing complaint framework agreement (direct award or mini-competition).

Environtec are available for direct award under several frameworks with competitively tendered fixed prices, the most suitable framework (due to its contractual flexibility and low % fee) is the Efficiency East Midlands framework EEM0024 Asbestos Surveys & Removals Framework.

Alternative options considered

1. Do nothing - This would lead to a failure in our statutory duty to maintain asbestos compliance and potentially put our staff and contractors in harm's way.
2. Run a competitive procurement procedure - This approach would potentially give us better rates however we would need to train and integrate any new provider on the team's software which can take up to 6 months.