Decision

Approves the award of the professional services contract for the ARP at Mount Stewart School to Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure Ltd. for £103,365.

Approves the award of the professional services contract for the ARP at Newman Catholic College to Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure Ltd. for £103,490.

Approves the award of the professional services contract for the ARP at Preston Park Primary School to Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure Ltd. for £103,176.

Approves the award of the professional services contract for the ARP at St Margaret Clitherow RC Primary School to Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure Ltd. for £102,150.

Reasons for the decision

The Council attempted to procure contractors for the design and build contracts for the four ARPs. However, the tender evaluation process did not elicit bids that met the Council’s requirements as set out in the tender documents.

Therefore, the Council approached Morgan Sindall via the SCAPE Construction Framework Lot 1 to understand the indicative costs and timescales to deliver the four ARP projects. Morgan Sindall provided this information for the Council to consider.

Officers are seeking approval to award the professional services contracts for each ARP by calling off the SCAPE Construction Framework Lot 1 in order to complete the design and provide fixed costs to carry out the required works.

Alternative options considered

One alternative option is to re-procure the schemes through alternative construction frameworks. However, the Council has sought to elicit expressions of interest and bids through other frameworks but to little success. Also, the number and quality of bids was low as well as concerns raised relating to the financial strength of the bidders who provided bids for the projects.
Another alternative procurement method is an open tender procedure. This has been discounted owning to the delays to appointing a contractor would have on the programme as well as there would be no guarantee that a different result would be received. The current proposed decision provides a well-resourced, financially stable contractor who has the capacity to deliver the four schemes effectively and efficiently.