Agenda item

[Report of the Director Environment and Neighbourhoods.  To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Transformation and Public Realm Investment]

The Council is seeking a solution as part of its energy reduction and low-cost maintenance programmes to provide full monitoring and control of its street lighting assets via a Central Management System. This will consist of on-site nodes and gateways and a software system hosted by the Supplier.

The Cabinet Member for Transformation and Public Realm Investment introduced the report which sought approval for the award of a Street Lighting Central Management System (CMS) contract.  This investment was part of a wider investment in street lighting following the approval of the Street Lighting Investment Plan on 9 March 2021.

In response to questions from Councillor Cawley-Harrison, the Cabinet Member advised that there would be no drive to save money by switching off streetlights in any area.  The Cabinet Member advised that comms would be provided to residents to explain how the street lighting system worked and how repairs would be dealt with, particularly where the responsibility was shared with UK Power Networks.

Further to considering exempt information at item 31,

RESOLVED to

1.         Approve the award of a Street Lighting Central Management System Contract to Bidder 1 identified in the exempt report in the maximum sum of £2,347,750.00,as permitted under CSO 9.07.01(d). 

The CMS contract term shall be for a period of up to 5 years consisting of an initial term of two (2) years for a maximum contract sum of £1,697,250.00 with an option to extend for an additional three (3) years for a maximum contract sum of £650,500.

2.         Authorise the issue of a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the amount of £201,450.00 being 10% of the contract price (excluding client third party discretionary funding).

Reasons for decision

The appointment of the preferred bidder will enable the Council to deliveradditional savings in terms of reduced energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, together with reductions in ongoing maintenance costs.

Officers have undertaken a mini-competition tendering exercise to call off a contractor from an existing Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) framework agreement to deliver the street lighting CMS. Through this process, Bidder 1 has demonstrated that it should be awarded the contract.

In awarding the contract to Bidder 1, the Council is securing delivery of the street lighting CMS. The contract value also allows for additional spend on other lighting assets (such as those in parks and on housing estates) as resources allow.

Programming – For the installation and commissioning of the CMS, the programme end date (which is 31^st March 2022) will tie in with the completion of the street lighting LED replacement programme. An objective of the installation of the CMS in tandem with the LED provision is to maximise on saving energy.

The key benefits once the CMS is installed and in operation are:

·                Energy and operating cost reduction from:

-     Variable lighting (by dimming or raising the lighting levels), trimming of burning hours and part-night switching off for individual lights, groups of lights or the whole lighting system.

-     Accurate measurement of burning hours and energy consumption, only paying for what is used.

-     Reduced street lighting outages by the ability to monitor performance and predict failures.

-     Operating the lighting infrastructure in a dimmed or switched state, extending single component life.

·                Carbon reduction from:

-     Reduced energy consumption realised by the change in operating profile, reducing CO₂ emissions and contributing to the asset owner’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC2) strategy.

-     Potential reduction in night scouting requirement, therefore yielding a reduction in carbon footprint captured from scouting vehicles.

·                Tailored lighting policy from:

-     The ability to employ variable lighting levels at an individual streetlight allowing specific lighting to suit the individual requirements of communities.

-     A flexible approach, allowing remote changes to lighting policy without the need to visit site, reducing exposure to health and safety risk and labour costs.

-     The ability to allow the CMS to directly react to external sources such as traffic counts, pedestrian movements, etc.

Alternative options considered.

Option 1: Do nothing

Pursuing this option would fail to achieve the additional reduction in energy usage, operating costs and carbon that the Council is seeking to achieve. It would also fail to provide a tailored lighting policy (as per Section 4.5.3).  Option not recommended.

Option 2 Direct Award to Term Maintenance Contractor

This option was discounted since it was considered more cost effective to undertake a procurement process to secure the most economically advantageous tender to the Council.  

Option 3 In-house delivery

This option was discounted as the Council currently does not have the requisite in-house resource and expertise to deliver the work.