Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Chief Executive which advised the Members of the progress of the Mersey Gateway procurement process.

The Board was advised that the Mersey Gateway Project Team had approved a change to one of the bidding partners in the MGL consortium following a formal reassessment process.  BAM Nuttall had joined the MGL consortium to replace Galliford Try Investments Limited.  This showed that there was a high level of interest in delivering the project. It was reported that the procurement timetable would continue as planned. 

The Board was further advised that since the last procurement report to the Project Board, a number of Dialogue Meetings had taken place (supported by Bidder Submissions which had been made in advance); matters covered included the technical stream and the commercial stream.

It was reported that the preparations for the evaluation of the Draft Final Tender were on-going.  The purpose of the evaluation of Draft Final Tenders was to allow the Council to close the Dialogue and was not required to support an award decision. In addition, it was reported that the close of dialogue was a significant milestone. The Council would also provide feedback to Bidders to allow them to refine their proposals for Final Tender.  The Project Team were also preparing to receive and evaluate a significant number of bidder submissions on 16 November 2012.  An oral update regarding the status of the submissions received on the 16 November 2012 was provided at the meeting and it was noted that three draft bids had been received.

Furthermore, it was reported that the first Bidder feedback and clarification meetings were scheduled for the week commencing 17 December 2012.  Further meetings were also scheduled in the New Year.

It was reported that the Project Team expected to announce a preferred bidder in the Spring of 2013 and remained on target to deliver Financial Close in the Autumn of 2013.

In line with the recommendations raised at the last meeting, the Project Team had progressed with the procurement of the Owner Controlled Insurance Programme (OCIP) insurance.  A total of 31 tenderers had passed the pre-qualification stage.  The Council had invited the 31 tenderers to negotiate in a two-stage process.  The first stage involved the invitation to negotiate for “lead” underwriting terms under the OCIP.  The second stage would involve the invitation to negotiate for “follow” underwriting terms and Excess Layer Third Party Liability terms.  The process so far had demonstrated that the Board’s Retained Risks could be included under the OCIP at a relatively small incremental cost.

In conclusion, it was reported that the land acquisition programme continued in parallel with the dialogue meetings to ensure that the required land was delivered on time, or necessary rights that the Project Company required in order to construct the Mersey Gateway had been obtained.  The programme was also on schedule, and continued to acquire land both through agreement and by the exercising of its Compulsory Purchase powers through the serving of General Vesting Declarations. Negotiations continued with a number of affected parties, with the ability to use Compulsory Purchase powers should it be necessary.  A significant number of affected businesses had now identified relocation premises and the team were working with them to ensure they had relocated and vacated their existing premises by April 2013.

RESOLVED: That the Board note that the Competitive Dialogue process is progressing to programme and that all Bidders are fully engaged with the process and continue to develop their draft Final Submissions.