Decision details

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director, Place and Economic Growth, which sought approval for the awarding of the framework agreement for Tree Surgery Services.

The Cabinet was informed that a framework agreement was to be established and used for allocating jobs, either by direct award to the first ranked bidder, or mini competition if the value of works is above £5,000. To establish the framework, an Invitation to Tender (ITT) was advertised using the open tender procedure. Following the advertisement, a supplier engagement event was held, with the primary objective of providing support and guidance in the tender process which included social value. The event was well received with 10 organisations attending; two of which were local and four were located with Greater Manchester.

In total 16 submissions were received; 11 of which were compliant. These were evaluated by the Commercial Procurement Unit and arboriculture specialists within the Environmental Services Team using the following criteria: Quality – 60%, Social Value – 10% and Price – 30%. Five bidders had been identified, as the outcome of the evaluation, as offering the most economic advantageous packages in relation to service delivery, cost, and social value. Details thereon were contained within Part B of the Executive Director’s report.

Options/alternatives considered:

Option 1 - to award the framework agreement to the most economically advantageous bidders.

Option 2 - do nothing. This would result in no formal framework agreement in place, breaching the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and no guaranteed stand-by and emergency provisions in place, both of which increase the risk for the Council.

Resolved:

That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at item 16 of the agenda before making a decision.