Repairs and Maintenance

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LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST

Meeting / Date Cabinet

13th November 2012

Agenda Item 9

Report Title Repairs & Maintenance Contractor Procurement

Cabinet Portfolio Finance Property & Resources

Report Author/Contact details

Vicky Ladizhinskaya

Contracts and Service Development Manager

Property and Major Projects

Environment and Regeneration Directorate

Tel. 020 8496 3552

Mobile: 07528 382 848

e-mail: [email protected]

Wards affected All

Public Access Open

Appendices A Strategic Procurement Board Report

B Minutes of Strategic Procurement Board

1. SUMMARY

1.1 The current contracts for reactive repairs and cyclical inspection andmaintenance of the Councils corporate assets come to an end by 31March 2013.

1.2 This report seeks Cabinet approval to commence a procurementprocess for new contracts for provision of both types of services, withthe aim of the new contractors to commence work on 1 April 2013 forreactive maintenance contracts (see section 5.1 below) and 1 July2013 for cyclical maintenance contract (see section 5.2 below), which

will be extended under current contracts (due to the more prolongedprocurement periods for some of these contracts, which will need to beprocured under EU regulations). The purpose of the procurement is toensure continuity of services and Councils discharge of its statutoryHealth and Safety duties.

2. RECOMMENDATIONS


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2.1 For the reasons given in this report, Cabinet is recommended to:

2.1.1 Approve the proposed procurement programme for 5 year contracts,with 1 year extension option to provide repairs and maintenance andstatutory cyclical inspections to the Councils property assets as set outin paragraphs 5.1 and 5.2.

2.1.2 Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Environment &Regeneration to award the contracts following the return of tenders,inconsultation with the Head of Procurement and the Head of Legal &Democratic Services in respect of those contract awards which are keydecisions.

3. REASONS

3.1 The current contracts expire by 31 March 2012. There is no alternativeinter borough contracts which can be used as an alternative. Thereforeit is critical that new contracts are procured in accordance withProcurement Rules, to ensure continuity of statutory maintenance andinspection regime for the councils corporate assets.

4. BACKGROUND

The Council needs suitable contractors to undertake re-active/responsiverepairs works to the Councils Corporate property assets and regular,statutory building inspections.

4.1 All work is funded from the Corporate Repairs andMaintenance Fund4.2 The majority of reactive work is requires short response times to

ensure buildings can continue to run both for staff and visitors. If repairworks are not undertaken rapidly the building may either becomeunsafe for occupants (e.g. roof leaks, defective lighting), or maybecome insecure (e.g. broken windows). The reactive maintenancecontracts will cover a significant number of small items of work wherebuilding element failures have occurred.

4.3 This inspection tender will include routine testing or maintenance ofelements in buildings for compliance or health and safety. Thestatutory inspections and related work are required under the councilstatutory Health and Safety obligations.

4.4 Any major building maintenance and repair works (over 30,000) willbe subject to competitive quotes or tender process, via the council e-procurement portal, based on latest procurement rules.

4.5 The key issue for a contractor undertaking reactive maintenance workis the ability to meet short timescales for attendance on site and theundertaking of the necessary work. Consequently it is imperative thatthe contractors have a local workforce or a base in the borough to beable to respond effectively to emergency calls and meet contractual

deadlines. Therefore it is proposed that the tender emphasises the


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need for local workforce, which would also contribute to the localeconomy and employment.

4.6 When this work was tendered 3 years ago the Primary Care Trust wereincluded in the proposals, but they have confirmed that due to theproposals for the future of the ownership of the current PCT propertyportfolio they do not wish to be included this time.

4.7 Although consideration has been given to the potential to work incollaboration with other Councils work carried out by the procurementteam identified that no neighbouring councils will have existingframeworks in place or would be able to carry out joint procurement

within the timescales which would enable re-procurement by the endof the current contracts/ contract extensions. Given the need for rapidresponse times for this type of work it is less likely that a singlecontractor could offer such a service across a larger area.

4.8 Prior procurement shown that there is an extensive local and regionalnetwork of relevant contractors interested in this work.

4.9 In accordance with the Councils Contract Procedure Rules thisproposal has been to the Strategic Procurement Board for approvaland a copy of that report is attached as Appendix A.

5. PROPOSALS

5.1 Reactive maintenance contracts - It is proposed to procure this workunder two separate contracts, both for works up to a value of 30,000

for individual order as follows:a. General Building repairs, including metalworks and glazing

b. Electrical repairs

5.2 Cyclical inspection and maintenance contracts it is proposed toprocure the services as six separate contracts up to a value of 30,000 for individual order as follows. Bidders would be able to bid forsome of the contracts concurrently, if they have the relevantexperience and infrastructure in place:

a. Mechanical inspections and maintenance, including water

hygiene inspections and risk assessments, air conditioning andboilers

b. Intruder alarms inspection and maintenance

c. Asbestos inspections

d. Fire alarms, fire equipment and Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs)

e. Lift inspection and maintenance

f. Electrical and lighting testing (including PAT testing)

5.3 The procurement for both types of contracts would be in two stages:


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a. Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) to select a short list ofsuitable firms

b. Invitation to tender (ITT) seeking a % price against proposedasset schedule of rates

At PQQ stage those companies that express an interest will beassessed on experience, technical capacity, financial standing, healthand safety, and equalities.

At ITT tenders will be evaluated on their method statements regardingmethodology and resourcing as well as price against a schedule ofrates set by the Council, which is based on national best practice.

5.4 The timetable for tendering will be programmed to ensure thatsuccessful contractors are in place for a contract start date of 1st April2013 for reactive maintenance and 1st July 2013 for cyclical contracts.The current contracts contain the right for them to be extended and this

right will be exercised for the period until the new contracts commence.5.5 All contracts will be procured for a period of 5 years with an option for 1

year extension to secure best price from contractors. The contracts willbe based on a call-off principle which will ensure flexibility of provisionto accommodate the changes to the corporate assets portfolio and anyfuture partnering arrangements.

5.6 Finally the requirement for the contractors to have a local base willincrease apprenticeship opportunities in the borough and will providelocal career paths for the boroughs secondary schools and 6th formgraduates.

6. OPTIONS

6.1 Alternative options considered were joining with other neighbouringcouncils in joint procurement for these services or using existingframeworks the council can be party to. Corporate procurementexplored these options and confirmed that neither option is viable

within the timescales, as majority of the contracts could not beextended beyond the indicated end date.

7. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY STRATEGY PRIORITIES (ANDOTHER NATIONAL OR LOCAL POLICIES OR STRATEGIES)

7.1 All current contractors are locally based and whilst a larger firm with alocal representation may be able to meet the response performancetargets, there are many local firms who could provide the work, and theadvertising of the opportunity will seek to ensure as much localcoverage as possible. This is in line with the Leaders Regenerate ourBorough priority of Helping our residents to gain skills to get back into

work and support our local businesses. Procurement legislation doesnot allow discrimination against non-local organisations but does allow

the Council to take into account socio-economic factors where they arerelevant and proportionate to the contract. The tender documentation


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will ensure that suppliers can be responsive and also build inrequirements around apprenticeships etc.

8. CONSULTATION

8.1 Building and facility managers across the portfolio will be consultedand the Councils Construction advisors NPS (London) will assist withthe technical aspects of the tendering exercise.

9. IMPLICATIONS

9.1 Finance, Value for Money and Risk

9.1.1 There are no immediate financial implications associated with theproposals in this report.

9.1.2 The annual value of the repairs and maintenance contracts isestimated at:a. General building repairs, glazing and metalwork - 600K

b. Electrical works. - 450k

9.1.3 The annual value of the cyclical inspection and maintenance contractsare estimated at :a. Mechanical inspections and maintenance, including water

hygiene inspections - 105K

b. Intruder alarms inspection and maintenance - 20K

c. Asbestos inspections - 100K

d. Fire alarms, fire equipment and - 58K

e. Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) - 50K

f. Lift inspection and maintenance - 17K

g. Electrical and lighting testing (including PAT testing) - 82K

9.1.4 The Strategic Procurement Board report indicates that FRAs and firealarms/equipment would be a single contract. However these notservices that the same contractors would provide and will be procuredseparately as shown above.

9.1.5 The corporate R&M fund has not been increased for inflation for morethan 6 years and has been reduced by 400k over the last two years.

9.1.6 Through the accommodation review process as well as individualservice reviews the Council has sought to reduce its property holdings,and in particular those assets indicating a high level of expenditure on


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maintenance. This is likely to reduce the annual values of the contractsabove, through contracts duration.

9.1.7 National indicators suggest that building costs have begun to rise sincethe last tendering exercise, which may result in small unit costsincreases across the schedule of rates. Any such increase canhowever be contained within the existing budget.

9.2 Legal

9.2.1 The Council has power under section 111 of the Local Government Actto do anything necessary or incidental that is conducive to carrying outits functions and the letting and management of such contracts wouldcome within this power.

9.2.2 Under the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (the Regulations), workscontracts over 4,348,350 and Part A services contracts over 173,934have to be tendered in accordance with the procedure set out in theregulations, which involves some elements of the tendering processrequiring a European-wide tender preceded by an advertisement in theOfficial Journal of the European Union (OJEU). Those contracts whichrequire advertising in OJEU are identified in the report to StrategicProcurement Board at Appendix A.

9.2.3 The Council must also comply with its own Contract Procedure Rules,

which are set out in the Constitution and require procurements of thissize to be approved prior to Cabinet decision by the StrategicProcurement Board.

9.2.4 Authority is being sought to delegate the award decision to theExecutive Director of Environment and Regeneration. As some ofthose contracts are valued at over 1M the award decision will be aKey Decision and need to be on the Forward Plan.

9.2.5 If it is necessary to extend any of the contracts in order to complete theprocurement process, they will have to be extended in accordance withthe Councils Contract Procedure Rules and the appropriate waiver ofthe Rules relating to competition will have to be given if the contractdoes not contain a provision for extension.

9.2.6 The Council will complete appropriate contract documentation withsuccessful tenderers in accordance with the Councils procurementrules.

9.3 Equalities and Diversity


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9.3.1 The Councils property assets provide access to services to all sectorsand all members of our communities. There are therefore no specificequalities issues relating to the tendering of this contract.

9.3.2 An equality assessment will be undertaken of all interested firms atPQQ. The building trades are recognised as being under representedby female operatives and the training and apprenticeship requirements,

which would be set in the relevant contracts, would aim to redress thisbalance.

9.4 Sustainability (including climate change, health, crime anddisorder)

9.4.1 The Council will seek to agree with the new contractors procedures forthe use of sustainable building materials and components.

9.4.2 By undertaking repairs works in a timely manner the Council ensuresthat deterioration of the assets is minimised and that more expensiverepairs are not required. Timely repairs also ensure that the asset issafe to use for staff and visitors.

9.5 Council Infrastructure

9.5.1 None

BACKGROUND INFORMATION (as defined by Local Government(Access to Information) Act 1985)

Approval by the Portfolio Holder

I have cleared this report for inclusion on the Cabinet agenda.

Signed: Date: 2nd November 2012

Cabinet Member for Economic Development & Corporate Resources

Documents

Repairs and Maintenance