Hertfordshire County Council has started its search for a new highways term maintenance contractor.
In a contractor which could be worth £1,950,000,000 over 12 years, the service provider will be expected to ‘innovate and maximise potential for success.’
The authority intends to focus on the following:
• A service delivered in line with Hertfordshire’s Sustainability Strategy, playing a key role in delivering the strategy’s ambitions both in its partner organisations and the behaviour it encourages. The authority wishes to work with service providers to meet its ambitious environmental targets to address the climate emergency it declared in 2019.
• Managing, improving and maintaining the network for all users, encouraging and enabling active and sustainable travel
• Sustaining a financially resilient service that delivers best value with the resources available
• Optimising service efficiency and maximising income from commercialisation and external funding. The Authority wishes for the Service Provider to raise initiatives for providing a commercially astute service
• Embracing best practice, innovations and new technologies, enabling the service to continuously evolve and improve. The Authority’s ambition is to create an exciting, new approach to the delivery of highways and related services
• Attracting, developing, empowering and retaining the best people capable of driving a dynamic and agile service
• Engaging effectively to understand and meet the needs of citizens and communities;
• Developing and sustaining a collaborative partnership that delivers the objectives for all. The Authority is keen to understand how it can better facilitate collaborative working across the highways service and throughout the wider supply chain
• A sensible and fair procurement process – as a local authority, the Authority is committed to complying with the public procurement regime. The service provider will be expected to deliver various services including
• Core services (emergency service, defect triage and remedy service, client-directed maintenance, routine & cyclical services non-complex member-directed maintenance and improvement etc.)
• Discretionary services (complex member-directed maintenance and improvement, client-directed improvement schemes, other resources and professional services)
• Other related services (future innovation and technical opportunities, possible in-house services, design and construction of an additional depot), the authority expects that it will identify and acquire the land for this new depot in the near to medium term and intends to develop the plans for it with the service provider, and, having done so, may elect to appoint the service provider to design and construct the new depot through the contract.
At present, the services are delivered through the authority’s existing contract, to expire in September 2025.
Organisations wishing to take part should “express interest” to give access to the full procurement documents. To be considered as a candidate you must complete and submit a response to the SQ by the deadline of 12:00 Noon on 26 February 2024.
