Kent County Council has started its search for a new highway term maintenance contractor.
The current contract expires on 30th April 2026 and council intends to enter into the new contract by November 2025 to allow sufficient time for implementation and to ensure service continuity from the expiry of the current HTMC.
The initial term of the contract is expected to be 14 years (plus a six month mobilisation period during which Task Orders will be issued under the contract for the initial term). There will be an option to extend the contract up to a maximum aggregate of seven years. It is also expected that TUPE may apply to the new contract.
Further information about this procurement can be found in the Project Information Memorandum (“PIM”) and the SQ, which are available through the Kent Business Portal. It says that a ‘request to participate’ is by completion and return of the Selection Questionnaire (“SQ”) by the stated deadline of 25 November 2024 – 1200hrs. The draft scope, Contract, and Invitation to Tender (“ITT”) are being released two weeks after the initial SQ documents to ensure candidates focus their time and efforts on the SQ during the initial weeks of the Selection Stage.
The council said it intends to invite the top four scoring Candidates from the Selection Stage to participate in an introductory meeting and submit an Initial Tender.
At the Initial Tender Stage, the council intends to further shortlist tenderers from four to three.
The three shortlisted tenderers will be invited to discuss and negotiate the draft Contract, leases and scope and will be offered the opportunity to provide a mark-up of those documents as part of the Detailed Tender Stage.
The council said it will consider all proposed amendments and comments from Tenderers at the Detailed Tender Stage prior to issuing a final version of the draft Contract, scope and leases to all Tenderers, against which final Tenders are to be submitted. Tenderers will be required to confirm acceptance of the final version of the draft Contract, which will be evaluated on a “Pass/Fail” basis.
The council will identify the most economically advantageous tender (“MEAT”) using the Price per Quality Point evaluation method, subject to the Tenderers passing any minimum requirements (e.g. “Pass/Fail” and/or minimum quality scores).
The council currently anticipates that the Service Provider will provide all the fleet. However, the council is exploring the option of either buying or leasing the gritting fleet and/or buying the gritting salt directly; this is still to be determined, and further details will be provided at the Initial Tender Stage. This procurement also includes the potential for the local authorities detailed in the PIM to have access to and enter into Task Orders under the contract with the Service Provider in order to deliver specific schemes/projects.
