Agenda item

The Leader considered the report which sought approval to award a contract to TYCO Fire & Integrated Solutions (UK) Limited (trading as TYCO Integrated Fire & Security) for CCTV maintenance.

The report was seeking approval from Cabinet for the award of contract under Contract Standing Order (CSO) 9.07.1 (d) which stated that all contracts valued at £500,000 (five hundred thousand pounds) or more at the time of award may only be awarded, assigned, or novated by the Cabinet. The award was for the provision of CCTV equipment maintenance services for the Council’s CCTV provision from 1December 2021, and this contract would cover:

·         CCTV infrastructure equipment - servers in River Park House and equipment in the CCTV control room in Alexandra House.

·         Maintenance of community safety, traffic enforcement and School Streets cameras.

This contract would support the Council in the maintenance of the refreshed and upgraded camera network and CCTV infrastructure. The capital investment into the Council’s CCTV provision had significantly increased the current number of cameras across the borough (increasing from 132 to 282) to improve public confidence, detect and deter criminality as well as improve the flow of traffic across the borough. Please see Appendix 1 of the report for camera locations.

This was a new contract to be awarded for a period of 4 years, to a total value of £1,836,668.

Costs may fluctuate marginally as equipment is added or removed over the duration of the contract, which has been captured via an agreed schedule of rates within the tender. The current cost projections are based on best knowledge of changes in new cameras/stock at the time of writing this report.

The projected 4-year cashflow is set out as follows:

*Table 1 shows annual contract costs, as opposed to financial year costs.

The Leader RESOLVED

Pursuant to Contract Standing Order 9.07.1(d), to approve the award of contract for the provision of maintenance services to TYCO Fire & Integrated Solutions (UK) Limited (trading as TYCO Integrated Fire & Security) for a period of 4 years for the value of £1,836,668.

Reasons for decision

The Council initiated a competitive exercise through the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) and an OJEU notice was issued on 14May 2021, to invite tenders with submissions due on 13June 2021. The procurement process followed the Open Procedure, in accordance with Regulation 27 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015. A total of seven providers registered interest and one provider submitted a bid for the contract.

The tender procedure consisted of a single stage process, including ‘selection questions’ and 6 qualitative questions, assessing the bidders against the broad range of required experience, skills and capabilities as described in the specification. The submitted bid has been evaluated against price and quality to ensure that it delivers value for money.

The successful bidder has demonstrated its ability and capability through responses to the tender requirements and questions, and it is therefore proposed to be the successful provider.

The current contract is due to expire on 30November 2021 and this new contract will align with the expanded and modern current CCTV provision. This new contract is necessary for service maintenance continuity.

Alternative options considered

Doing nothing – This is not a feasible option as not having a CCTV maintenance contract would impact on the ability to provide a functional provision as the lack of a maintenance contract ultimately risks infrastructure failure and loss of CCTV capability. Risks associated with failure include loss of public and key stakeholders’ confidence, increased crime and disorder, failures in traffic management and loss of related income.

Re-procure the contract – As the current contract is due to expire on 30November 2021, this option would result in a period where, similar to the ‘Doing nothing’ option, not having a CCTV maintenance contract would impact on the ability to provide a functional provision. It is worth noting that the CCTV maintenance contract has previously been the subject of a challenge when a framework contract procurement approach was deployed. Given that an open tender approach has been undertaken in this instance, there is no guarantee that more bids would be received from a second procurement exercise – whilst the prices quoted in the schedule of rates may also increase as a consequence of inflation. This is therefore not regarded as a feasible option, particularly as the tender has passed the value for money test.