Grounds Maintenance Contract Value Uplift

This paper seeks approval for an uplift in the contract value of £1,133,885 for the provision of the grounds maintenance services. The uplift is compliant with Public Contract Regulations and will be funded from within existing MPS budgets

Approve the uplift in the value of the Services contract with Idverde UK Ltd by £1,133,885 which is 27% of the original contract value approved by MOPAC.This is to realign the contract’s initially underestimated annual spend to the current and estimated future service demand for this contract. The new value of the contract for the 5+1+1 Year term will be £5,334,719 against the originally approved value of £4,200,834 for the 5+1+1 Year term

1.1. MOPAC approved the contract award for the supply of the grounds maintenance services in 2018 for an initial 5 year term, with the option to extend by two 1 year periods.

1.2. This paper seeks approval for a contract value uplift to enable the extension periods to be awarded.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The reason for the need to approve a contract value uplift now is due to spend on both planned and reactive activities being in excess of the expected volumes at contract award. Examples of the additional activity are remedial works associated with arboriculture reports and reactive tree maintenance, significant spend on planned winter gritting (excluded from the original cost estimate submitted at tender award), and extension of grounds maintenance service to support Operational Support Group to service high profile criminal investigations.

2.2. The uplift includes a cost provision of £60,000 (£20,000 per year) for glyphosate alternatives. This is due to MOPAC supporting the GLA in wanting to limit and erradicate over time, the use of glyphosate products across the estate.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The estimated contract value uplift required to the end of the planned seven year term is £1,133,885. The MPS assure that this will be met from within existing budgets.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (“MOPAC”) is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”). All awards of, and modifications to, public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £213,477 or above shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations. This report confirms both the value of the original contract and the proposed modification exceeds this threshold.

4.2. The MPS assure that the proposed contract value uplift is within the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

4.3. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all unforeseen variations and extensions to contracts with an original value of £500,000 or above, when the variation or extension is greater than 10% of the original value and/or is for a period of more than 12 months.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The contract for grounds maintenance was awarded for a upto 7 year term at a value of £4,200,834. The MPS has delegated authority to award the two 1 year extensions which it plans to do.

5.2. Due to additional activity the contract value needs to be uplifted by £1,133,885, 27% of the original contract value. The award of the extension will be to a performing supplier and based on the 2018 prices bid (plus inflation). The extensions will avoid the costs involved in a re-procurement and avoid exposure to potential market increases.

5.3. This supplier, working alongside the Ministry of Justice, provides training in biodiversity and general horticultural skills for ex-offenders to educate and provide them life skills that may help rehabilitation. This scheme is being adopted by the MPS for low risk offenders and their case officers.

5.4. The MPS assure that as part of their management of the contract extension they will ask the supplier to set out how they will contribute to the London Anchor Institutions charter objectives.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy

6.1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.

6.2. The MPS asure that the proposal does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered.

7. Equality Comments

7.1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

7.2. The MPS assure that as this proposal is for a contract value uplift there are no equality implications.

8. Background/supporting papers

• Appendix 1 MPS Report - Grounds Maintenance Services Purchase Order (PO) Uplift