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Biggleswade Tender Process I have no information about whether LC submitted a tender for renewal of its Saxon contract in Biggleswade three years ago. The extract below from a Mid Beds report provides general insight into how the tender process was managed. PB Saxon Pool Contract via
http://www.midbeds.gov.uk/searches/default.asp#1 2. Following the submission of five pre tender questionnaires all the applicants were invited to submit tenders to undertake the management contract. By the deadline for tender submission four tender bids where received. 3. The tender evaluation was undertaken in three parts, and required the selected tenderers to submit two envelopes. One envelope contained the contractor's proposals with regard to the provision of services in accordance with the management specification. The second envelope contained the tender price and associated costings. 4. When assessing previous leisure management contracts, a minimum quality threshold of 60 % had been established and agreed with the Council's Internal Audit Division to be the benchmark. Failure to achieve a quality threshold of at least 60 % would result in disqualification from the tender evaluation process (the contractors tender submission would be returned unopened). This is to ensure that contractors demonstrate that they are able to provide a minimum level of quality. Members should be aware that once the tender bid is accepted, the tender submission becomes part of the contract documents and helps to define the standard of service that is to be provided. 5. The tender evaluation model to assess quality allocates a maximum number of points to each schedule based on its relative importance. For instance, those schedules carrying the highest values included experience, marketing, administration, management, health & safety, customer care, quality assurance, and lifeguarding. Attached as Appendix A are the respective scores for each contractor. Members should note the differences in scores although all contractors did achieve at least 60%, which allowed all the financial tenders to be opened. 6. Following the quality evaluation the financial bids were opened and a breakdown of those financial bids is also attached at Appendix A. Evaluation of the financial bids was then undertaken. 7. On Monday, 1 October 2001, all four tenderers were invited to give a presentation to the Portfolio Holder (Social & Economic) (Cllr K Matthews), the Assistant Portfolio Holder (Cllr Mrs A Lewis) and the Vice Chairman of the Saxon Pool Advisory Group ( Cllr Mrs J Harrowell). Tenderers were requested to give a presentation on their companies, and how they saw Saxon Pool and Leisure Centre fitting into their company structure. Members of the panel then asked questions for clarification on the company set up. No financial questions were asked at the meeting. This part of the process lead to the realisation that more work was needed on establishing the most desirable financial package to the Council. 8. A further meeting of the evaluation group took place on 4 October 2001. The additional analysis was only undertaken on the winning bid for quality and the lowest bid financially, i.e. A and B. Contractor C was ruled out on the grounds of being the most expensive. Contractor D was the third lowest score for quality and also Members were disappointed by their presentation. Attached at Appendix B is a comparison of the financial bids for Contractors A and B. Although on the basis of tender bids submitted, Contractor B appears to be the most favourable option, the income levels are projected at a rate below that experienced within the current contract. Members will see that for income predicted at £800,000, Contractor A becomes the more favourable option. This is because Contractor A is prepared to reinvest their share of any additional profits back into the contract. It is therefore recommended by the evaluation panel that when considering both the quality and financial criteria that Contractor A should be awarded the contract for Saxon Pool and Leisure Centre for the period 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2004. The current cost of the Saxon Pool contract is £195,900. By accepting the tender submitted by Contractor A of £99,000, this will result in a saving of approximately £97,000 per annum. |
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