Purpose

The Vauxhall Road Active Travel scheme has
progressed through the preliminary and detailed design stages and
the scheme is now ready to be constructed. This report seeks
approval to commence the procurement process to appoint a works
contractor to deliver the scheme.

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report, the
Corporate Director has decided to:
1)   
Commence a procurement exercise to select a contractor for the
construction of the Vauxhall Road Active Travel Scheme with a
duration of up to 18 months and for a total estimated value of
£11,000,000 excluding VAT.

Alternative options considered

1.1         
Do nothing – this option has been rejected because by not
appointing a contractor to deliver the Vauxhall Road Active Travel
scheme would risk non delivery of new active travel infrastructure
and risk potential claw back of external funding that the council
has received. There would also be potential reputational risk if
the scheme isn’t delivered as the funding has been made
available from Active Travel England and non-delivery of the scheme
may impact the Council being awarded funding for similar schemes in
the future.
 
1.2         
Open Tender – this is not deemed to be a practical option as
the council have recently been through a process to set up and
appoint contractors to the new HPWF. This scheme will be one of the
first to utilise the new framework which has been assessed by the
council and the contractors on the framework have been deemed to
offer best value based on the framework rates they have provided.
By going through an open tender process, the council would not
benefit from the HPWF rates.