Issue - meetings

Councillor Melvin Wallace, Cabinet member for Culture and Community Engagement, introduced the report

Members were informed that the report before them sought Member agreement to award the Council’s Sports and Leisure Management Contract, for a period of 20 years, from October 1^st 2016.  The report also sought Member agreement in principle to the building of a new Hornchurch Sports Centre, investment in new health and fitness facilities at Central Park Leisure Centre and to the continued Council funding of the Chafford Sports Complex, within the parameters that were identified in the report. 

            The report furthermore sought Member agreement to award the contract to Tenderer A on the basis that they had submitted the most economically advantageous tender (a “meat” bid) to the Council, taking account of all relevant price and quality evaluation issues. 

Reasons for the decision:

The preferred bid had been selected because it achieved the best overall score, taking account of price and quality, when assessed against the evaluation criteria identified in the table included in paragraph 21 of the report.  

Other options considered:

In considering alternatives for the management of the Sport and Leisure facilities there was not a ‘do nothing’ option as the current contract for the management of the facilities would end on September 30th 2016.  The option of extending the contract for another 5 years had already been ruled-out on the basis that it would not achieve value for money for the Council (as set out in the Tender Strategy produced in February 2014). The option of bringing the service back in-house had also been ruled-out because of the tax implications that would arise and because it was believed that an experienced leisure operator was more likely to maximise the commercial opportunities that were available as compared to the Council.  It was also the case that an external operator (providing it was delivering the contract through a Trust, Charity or similar organisation) could secure significant NNDR and VAT advantages, in comparison to the Council.

The option of retaining the existing Hornchurch Sports Centre had been considered but rejected given the age of the building, the fact that it would almost certainly need to be replaced in the next 10 - 20 years and because of the significant repair and maintenance costs associated with the current building.

Following consultation with the Council’s Legal Advisor, Cabinet was informed that paragraph 20 in the report needed to be replaced with the following wording:

“20. Tenderer A’s best “Price” score at the BAFO stage is linked to their “Core Bid” and a contract term of 10 years.  Tenderer B’s best “Price” score is linked to their “Mandatory Variant Bid” and a contract term of 20 years.” 

Furthermore, the Legal Advisor requested that some changes to the wording of some of the recommendations be made and Cabinet agreed to those changes, the recommendations to read:

Cabinet:

1          Awarded the Sports and Leisure Management Contract for a period of 20 years starting on October 1^st 2016, to  ...  view the full decision text for item 64

Councillor Melvin Wallace, Cabinet member for Culture and Community Engagement, introduced the report

Members were informed that the report before them sought Member agreement to award the Council’s Sports and Leisure Management Contract, for a period of 20 years, from October 1^st 2016.  The report also sought Member agreement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64