Agenda item

To appoint a contractor to deliver the Sandwell Urban Bike Park project.

Resolved:-

1.1 That an exemption be made to the Council’s Procurement and Contract Procedure rules in relation to the appointment of ‘Back On Track Mountain Bike Solutions Ltd’ to deliver the Design and Build Cycle trails within Sandwell Valley and Birmingham (The former Hill Top Golf Course).

1.2 That subject to 1.1 above, the Director of Borough Economy be authorised to award a contract to Back On Track Mountain Bike Solutions Ltd up to £530,000 to deliver the new Cycle trails.

                  Approval was sought to make an exemption to the Council’s Procurement and Contract Procedure Rules in relation to the appointment of ‘Back On Track Mountain Bike Solutions Ltd’ to deliver the Design and Build Cycle trails within Sandwell Valley and Birmingham (The former Hill Top Golf Course).

Furthermore, approval was sought to authorise the Director of Borough Economy to award a contract to Back On Track Mountain Bike Solutions Ltd up to £530,000 to deliver the new Cycle trails.

The Chair of the Budget and Corporate Scrutiny Management Board asked when works on site were expected to start, how long will they last and when the bike park was expected to open. In response, the Cabinet Member for Leisure and Tourism explained that officers were currently in discussions with the Contractor regarding a start date for works to commence on site.

It had originally been hoped that works would start in January 2023 with a completion (and opening) by the end of March 2023.

Due to other work commitments with the Contractor, it may be that works are pushed back with a start in March 2023 and a completion (and opening) in May 2023. This however would require approval from Sport England as the funder.

More information was expected to be known within the next week and Members would be updated accordingly

                  Reasons for Recommendations

                  Tenders for the Design and Build Contract for the Sandwell Urban bike Park project were invited on 2 separate occasions via the Council’s ‘InTend’ Portal. On the first occasion only one contractor submitted a Tender. This contractor failed to pass the standard questions and were therefore discounted from the process. On the second occasion two contractors submitted tenders, these were the contractor previously excluded and ‘Back On Track Mountain Bike Solutions Ltd’.

Despite best attempts it had not been possible to obtain 3 tenders for the works. The most likely reasons were:

•       The short timescales involved in delivering this project.

•       Contractors already had full order books and did not have capacity to take on additional work at this time.

The project timeline for this development would not allow a third round of tendering. Sport England was the main funder and has stipulated that the project must be completed within the current financial year (by end of March 2023).

The Procurement Services Manager had been consulted and their advice was that in order for this tender to be accepted an exemption in accordance with Procurement and Contract Procedure Rules 8.11 and 15 was required.

                  Alternative options considered

      The option to tender the works again (for a third time) was considered however this was discounted due to the timescales previously discussed.

Agreed:

(1)     that an exemption be made to the Council’s Procurement and Contract Procedure Rules in relation to the appointment of ‘Back On Track Mountain Bike Solutions Ltd’ to deliver the Design and Build Cycle trails within Sandwell Valley and Birmingham (The former Hill Top Golf Course).

(2)     that subject to (1) above, the Director of Borough Economy be authorised to award a contract to Back On Track Mountain Bike Solutions Ltd up to £530,000 to deliver the new Cycle trails.