SC24029 Highway Term Maintenance Contract 2026

Description

Kent County Council (the “Council”) is seeking to appoint a service provider (“Service Provider”) to deliver a highways term maintenance contract (the “Contract”). The Council’s highway term maintenance services are delivered through the Council’s existing contract (“Current HTMC”), which expires on 30 April 2026. The 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 (168 months) (plus a six (6) 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 7 years (84 months). Please note that it is 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. Please note that a ‘request to participate’ for the purposes of this contract notice (in particular, Section IV.2.2) 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 intends to invite the top four (4) 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 (4) to three (3). The three (3) 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 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 listed at Section II.2.11 below to have access to and enter into Task Orders under the Contract with the Service Provider in order to deliver specific schemes/projects. Lot 1: The Council undertook a market engagement exercise to inform the contract, scope, and procurement procedure for this Opportunity, which was notified to the market via the Kent Business Portal. The agenda was designed to explore with the market how the Council could shape the procurement procedure to ensure a successful contract that not only provides best value but also an updated approach to service delivery. Three separate rounds of market engagement were held in January, June, and August 2024, with a range of suppliers, to obtain market input and confirm current thinking. Note that participation in the pre-market engagement exercises is not a prerequisite to participating in this Procurement, nor does it confer any advantage with respect to the Procurement for this opportunity. The Council encourages small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in this Procurement, either as Candidates, consortium members, supply-chain partners or sub-contractors. The Current HTMC delivers a number of essential and statutory services, including the following: • Winter Service Provision – e.g. gritting/salting the road network during freezing conditions including ploughing during snow events. • Drainage Maintenance and Capital Projects – e.g. cyclical highway drainage cleansing, emergency response during storm events and capital drainage repair schemes. • Structures – e.g. bridge repairs, tunnel maintenance and management and construction of new structures. • Highway patching and small to medium-scale road asset renewal works – e.g. pothole repairs and larger surface defect repairs of the highway. • Pavement asset preservation services – e.g. carriageway and footway life extension treatments such as surface dressing. • Emergency Response – e.g. responding to emergencies across the network due to weather, emergency services support, vehicle collisions, and structural asset failure both in hours and out of hours, 24/7/365. • Highway Improvement Scheme Delivery – e.g. construction of schemes for crash remedial measures, engineering and traffic schemes and S.106 requirements. The below is a summary of the indicative scope for the Contract: • Routine maintenance • Highways schemes • Structures and Tunnels maintenance • High Speed Road maintenance programme • Emergency and Out of Hours • Winter service • Drainage civil schemes • Drainage cleansing • Road and footway patching / pothole repairs • Small/Medium reactive road asset renewal • Signs maintenance • Lining maintenance • Barrier repairs • Asset improvements • Pavement asset preservation services • Professional services ((limited to design for civil engineering works to assist the delivery of projects) • Major Projects (as an alternative route to market, up to £5m) Please note that the above is only indicative and may be subject to change as the Procurement progresses. Furthermore, due to the term of the Contract and the nature of the Services, the Council reserves the right to include additional supporting and/or related services in the Scope, including during the term of the Contract and in accordance with its terms. Additional information: Kent County Council (the “Council”) is the largest local authority in England covering an area of 3,500 square kilometers. It has an annual expenditure of over £1bn on goods and services and a population of 1.6m. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board, twelve (12) district councils, and over 300 parish/town councils. The Council consists of four directorates: • Adult Social Care and Health • Children, Young People and Education • Growth, Environment and Transport • Chief Executive’s Department and Deputy Chief Executive's Department This Opportunity is being commissioned on behalf of the Growth, Environment and Transport directorate. The Council is the Highway Authority responsible for the delivery of a statutory highways service for the residents of Kent (excluding Medway and trunk roads and motorways) and any other person using the highway. The Council’s Highways and Transportation group (“H&T”) is the intelligent client that has delegated responsibility for maintaining the Council’s highways’ assets. An NEC4 Term Service Contract will be used with the following options: • Option A: Priced contract with price list • Option C: Target contract with price list • Option E: Cost reimbursable contract The Contract will feature break clauses, for example and amongst other things, to enable termination in the event of poor performance, in line with the NEC4 Term Service Contract. The Council is open to considering innovative delivery methods, including partnerships between providers.