Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, on the construction of the western access road to the 3MG HBC Field development and a waiver of Procurement Standing Orders.

            The report provided details of the previous approval of the preliminary design of the access road, the preliminary estimates and tender submissions, and the business case for the waiver of Procurement Standing Orders.

Reason for Decision

Continuing progress on the provision of infrastructure to support the 3MG HBC Field development would enable the draw-down of Regional Growth Fund and Growing Places Fund allocated to the 3MG Programme that had been identified for this purpose.  Construction of the western access road removed elements of risk to programme delivery, enhanced the value of the site and its attractiveness to potential developers / customers and took advantage of the competitive tender submission for the construction of the road from Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd (BBCEL).

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

The contract for the construction of the western access road could be re-tendered.  However, this would incur additional procurement costs, including tenderer pre-qualification and selection, preparation of tender documentation, management of the tender process and tender evaluation and award.  The process was estimated to add approximately £75,000 to the cost of the scheme and would take around 20 weeks from inviting expressions of interest to award of Contract.  The existing tender from BBCEL was considered to offer excellent value for money and there was no guarantee that a new tender process would result in lower prices.

The original plan was for the transport infrastructure relating to the development of HBC Field to be delivered through a Development Agreement with Pro Logis UK (PUK), the Council’s development partner.  For the reasons stated in paragraph 3.1.4 of the report to the Executive Board, PUK were not in a position to let a contract for the road construction.  Therefore if the Council accepted and wished to continue to make progress as set out in Paragraph 9.0 of the report, it was not an option to wait for a pre-let agreement to be signed with a customer.

The scope of works tendered in July by PUK included the whole of the western access road and bridge (as designed by Atkins) from Newstead Road into the proposed HBC Fields development site.  This was on the basis of a potential customers’ requirements.  The contract could be retendered on this same scope of works, however, the value of the scheme would be above the public procurement thresholds and would require re-tendering with the consequent additional costs and delays as set out in paragraph 10.1.

In addition to the reasons for rejection described in paragraph 10.3, the scope of the scheme for the construction of the western access road had been modified from that originally tendered by PUK, because at this stage we did not know whether the site would eventually be developed for single or multiple occupiers.  This retained a degree of flexibility in the future layout of the road south of the railway lane.

Implementation Date

Subject to Board approval, the advance site investigations and further design work would commence in early June 2012. It was anticipated that contract award would follow confirmation of amended design approvals in July 2012.

            RESOLVED: That

1)    the Board approves the project as described in the Preliminary estimates section of the report;

2)    the Operational Director Policy, Planning and Transportation be  authorised to award the contract for the construction of the 3MG Access Road to the Contractor Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd. in the sum of £4,330,784;  and that in the light of the exceptional circumstances, namely that:

(i) Compliance with Standing Orders would result in a clear financial detriment to the Council; and

(ii) Compliance with Standing Orders would result in the Council having to forego a clear financial benefit; and

(iii) Compliance with Standing Orders would result in the Council having to forego a clear commercial benefit;

       and in accordance with Procurement Standing Order 1.8.3, Procurement Standing Orders 2.2 – 2.12 and 2.14 be waived on this occasion.

3)    the Operational Director Policy, Planning and Transportation be authorised to award a contract for advance site investigation works (comprising sampling and testing) to the contractor Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd. in the estimated sum of £15,000  and that in the light of the exceptional circumstances, namely that:

(i) Compliance with Standing Orders is not practicable because the Council’s requirements can only be delivered by a particular supplier;

       and in accordance with Procurement Standing Order 1.8.3(e), Procurement Standing Order 4.1 be waived on this occasion.

4)    the Operational Director Policy, Planning and Transportation be authorised to award the contract for further scheme design work to Atkins (Engineering and Design Consultants) in the estimated sum of £95,000  and that in the light of the exceptional circumstances, namely that:

 (i) Compliance with Standing Orders is not practicable because the Council’s requirements can only be delivered by a particular supplier;

       and in accordance with Procurement Standing Order 1.8.3(e), Procurement Standing Order 4.1 be waived on this occasion.

5) the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader and the following Portfolio holders; Physical Environment, Transportation and Resources, be authorised to take such action as he judges necessary to implement the construction access road to 3MG.