Decision details

Waive Contract Standing Order (CSO) 8.03 and award a contract for Ecological Management Services for the Paddock to The Conservation Volunteers, for up to 12 years. The contract is valued at £102,000 of development funding, after which the site will be managed on a self-funding basis.

TCV have been a strategic partner for the Council for over 20 years and brought significant investment into the borough. The Council appointed TCV as a management partner for The Paddock in Oct 2020 and signalled an intent to partner with them on the long-term management of the site.

The proposed management model adopted a spend to save approach, equipping TCV to operate on site on a self-financing basis in the longer term.

The Council has invested £201,000 to date in development funding for TCV to help establish them on site and develop their user and volunteer base.

Since 2020, TCV have proven their ability to manage The Paddock to a high standard, deliver community engagement outcomes, develop an effective volunteer base and achieve the performance criteria set for them.

TCV’s input has been central to the development of long-term plans for The Paddock. Awarding the balance of the development funding to TCV would ensure continuity of service and would maintain the momentum built up with local communities.

As set out in Section 5 of the report with further commentary, options include:

1. Council assuming management of the Paddock. This option was not considered because;
• The Council does not have the expertise or capacity to deliver these ecological management, community engagement and volunteering services in-house.
• TCV have demonstrated significant added value, and significant investment has already been made in TCV at The Paddock.
• Any change to these arrangements would not represent value for money for the Council.
2. Offering a further interim management contract. This was not considered because;
• The project budget has an allowance for 3.5 years of development funding, although the initial installment was offered through an interim contract.
• In order to fundraise effectively, TCV require security of tenure on site. Any further extension of interim arrangements would make it more challenging for TCV to maintain capacity and meet the objective of becoming self-financing by 2025.
3. Going out to open procurement for a management partner. This was not considered because;
• TCV were the only party to bid for the management contract when an open procurement exercise was run in June 2020.
• The self-financing model is not compatible with the operating models of other comparable organisations, who have been engaged in soft-market testing.
• Given TCV’s excellent performance at The Paddock, the specialist nature of the site management requirements, and the investment made to date, a further procurement exercise is not proposed.

4. The award of the TCV contract is the preferred option as it is in the Council’s interest and will deliver value for money.