Purpose

The FRA remediation programme was historically procured through separate contracts for fire door and compartmentation works. This fragmented delivery model created challenges under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, particularly in ensuring clear responsibility for coordinating the pre-construction and construction phases. It also presented a risk that the Council could assume Principal Designer duties if the appropriate appointment and contractual arrangements were not in place.

In addition, the programme was originally planned for delivery over five years. This has since been condensed to less than two years to address the Regulator’s concerns regarding the timescales for completing the necessary remedial works.

For these reasons, a new procurement exercise was undertaken through Procure Plus whereby we advertised 2 contracts – effectively a north and south Lot structure. This brings the works together under a unified contractual arrangement, enables the relevant CDM responsibilities to be clearly allocated and supports the accelerated programme. All works are now scheduled to be completed by spring 2028.

Cabinet approved the original report in 2023 (11/04/2023), which delegated authority to the Executive Director for Place to award the contracts required to deliver the programme.

Decision

The procurement exercise was conducted through Procure Plus, with support from the Kirklees Council Procurement Team. It sought to appoint two contractors, with the programme divided into North and South geographical areas, to deliver replacement fire door sets and compartmentation works across the Council’s low-rise blocks.

The Contract Award is based on the Most Advantageous Tender. 

The evaluation criteria used to evaluate the tenders received is 40% Price / 50% Quality / 10% Social Value.

The outcome of the procurement resulted in:

·       Bell Group being awarded Lot 1 – £6,914,919.15

·       Harmony Fire being awarded Lot 2 - £6,718,957.44

The contract(s) will commence (subject to approval) in Late September or early October 2026 and will expire on 28th February 2028 with provision to extend for a further year, to 28th February 2029. The total estimated contract value is approximately £14 million.

A decision has been taken to proceed with the named contract, awards, appoint the two successful contractors and commence delivery of the programme