Cruise Services and Berthing Support Staff - Portsmouth International Port - Soft Marketing Testing

Description

Portsmouth City Council (the 'Council') is seeking to engage in pre-procurement soft market testing discussions with suitably qualified and experienced contractors in respect of a forthcoming contracting opportunity concerning the provision of cruise services and berthing support staff at Portsmouth International Port (the 'Port'). The Council currently has separate contracts in place for cruise services and berthing support staff at Portsmouth International Port, and these contracts are due to end in May 2025. The Council requires a contractor to continue to carry out these services once the current contracts end. The contractor needs to be able to operate on a dynamic basis as the cruise and berthing programmes can be subject to change at short notice due to factors like the weather. Furthermore, the Council will not be able to provide a binding guarantee per annum value for either of the contracts. The Council is considering undertaking a single lotted procurement process for these contracts, which will result in the letting of separate contracts for each of the service provision. The Council is considering a lotting strategy where Lot 1 is for the provision of cruise service, Lot 2 is for the provision of berthing support staff services and Lot 3 is for the provision of cruise and berthing support staff services combined. An award via Lot 3 will still result in 2 separate contracts, a concession contract for cruise services and a service contract for berthing support staff. The Council envisages entering into a 4-year contract for each of the contracts, extendable by a further 6 years in increments to be agreed. The full scope of services will formally commence on the go live date of 1st June 2025. The Council envisages securing the contractor/s in line with the following draft summary procurement programme, however it should be noted that the dates below are purely indicative and may be subject to future change. The Council will run the procurement process in accordance with the 'Open Procedure' as defined within the Public Contracts Regulations (2015): • Soft market testing - August 2024 • Issue FTS Contract Notice - 7th October 2024 • Issue procurement documents via In-tend - 7th October 2024 • Tender submission deadline - 22nd November 2024 • Award decision notification - 6th January 2024 • Standstill period completes - 16th January 2024 • Contract award notice - 3rd February 2025 • Mobilisation - from 3rd March 2025 • Commencement of full services - 1st June 2025 The Council would like to engage in 1-1 meetings with suitably qualified and experienced contractors who have sufficient current experience of working within a maritime and shipping environment ideally this will include the provision of stevedoring services in a passenger environment, to gain feedback on several elements of the proposed procurement and contract strategy. The Council has capacity to undertake a maximum of 6, 1 hour 1-1 meetings at the following dates and times: 14th August 2024 - 09:30 hours - 10:30 hours 14th August 2024 - 11:00 hours - 12:00 hours 15th August 2024 - 09:30 hours - 10:30 hours 15th August 2024 - 11:00 hours - 12:00 hours 16th August 2024 - 13:00 hours - 14:00 hours 16th August 2024 - 14:30 hours - 15:30 hours As capacity is limited meetings will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Whilst the Council may seek to accommodate requests from contractors for additional meeting dates & times it cannot provide any guarantees. Contractors interested in taking part in a 1-1 meeting are required to provide the following details via In-tend correspondence using the Expression of Interest form accessible via the In-tend 'Cruise Services and Berthing Support Staff - Portsmouth International Port - Soft Market Testing' project by no later than 12th August 2024 17:00. The In-tend system can be accessed free of charge via the following web link: https://intendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home Lot 1: Cruise Services The provision of a range of services to the cruise calls that arrive at the Portsmouth International Port throughout the year which are either a tourist or turnaround call. These calls usually arrive at dawn and depart at dusk. The service requirements per cruise ship differ, this is usually due to the type of call and number of passengers. The services are requested directly by the cruise line or its agents and could involve one or more of the following; • Baggage handling, • Passenger assistance, • Marshalling, • Ship stores, and • Handling of waste. To carry out these services the contractor is required to provide and maintain the relevant equipment needed to execute the services. The contractor may provide these services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days of the year, dependant on the cruise schedule. Christmas Day may be required if there is a ship scheduled at the port but this will be by prior arrangement. On an ad hoc basis, the contractor is requested to carry out operations such as forklift operations and traffic marshalling directly for the port. The Council requires a contractor who is able to operate on a dynamic basis as the cruise programme can be subject to change at short notice due to factors like the weather. Furthermore, the Council will not be able to provide a binding guarantee per annum value for this contract as it will be dependent upon demand. Additional information: Whilst the cruise services are considered to fall within the general definition of a concession agreement the cruise companies using the Port will only be able to utilise the contractor for cruise services and the contractor will have limited ability to significantly influence customer demand. This combined with the inclusion of berthing services within the procurement under a lotting strategy has led the council to run the soft market testing process and likely subsequent process in accordance with the public Contracts Regulations (2015) as opposed to the public Concessions Regulations (2016). Lot 2: Berthing Support Staff The provisional of additional staff when Portsmouth International Port's own Quay Assistants are absence, or there is an increase in demand. When the port has identified that additional staff are required, they make a request to the Contractor for the supply of suitable and experienced additional staff (referred to as 'Support Staff') to carry out a range of services. Under the instruction and supervision of the port's directly employed Berthing Master, the contractor's support staff shall carry out the following services, - Mooring and un-mooring of a vessel when they arrive and depart the port. - Linkspan and gangway watches. - Configuring linkspan structures and gangways to accommodate the vessel's requirements. - A variety of external cleaning services cross the port's external grounds. These services are normally carried out between 0530 and midnight which is when the vessels usually arrive and depart between, though occasionally due to late sailings and ad-hoc requirements, for example, there may be a requirement between midnight and 0530. The contractor provides the support staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days of the year. Christmas Day may be required if there is a vessel scheduled at the port but this will be by prior arrangement. A forecast of requirements is given seven days in advance and confirmation of requirements are provided midday of the day preceding the day of the requirement. The Council requires the contractor to be able to operator on a dynamic basis as the berthing programme can be subject to change at short notice due to factors like the weather. Furthermore, the Council will not be able to provide a binding guarantee per annum value for this contract. Lot 3: Cruise Services and Berthing Support Staff This is a combination of Lot 1 and Lot 2, please see each of the Lots for further details.