1030 Supply of Urban Trees (MARKET ENGAGEMENT)

Essex County Council (ECC), through The Essex Forest Initiative (EFI), has committed to planting £1 million worth of trees over five years from 2019. This includes planting 375,000 trees, over 150 hectares.

Essex County Council is seeking to procure at least 2200 containerised standards to plant in urban areas over winter 2023-24. Ahead of publishing this opportunity in September 2023, the Authority is looking to assess the interest and capability of the market to provide and deliver the requirement as set out in the Project Description below and would like to invite interested parties to register their interest in this opportunity and respond to a questionnaire.

Project Description ECC are looking to appoint a contractor to provide and undertake the works as a principal contractor to supply 2220 standard trees within the area of Essex to commence Winter 2023 / 2024.

The supply and services will involve: • Supply and Delivery of standard trees measured at between 10-14cm diameter at chest height. • All trees need to be available for delivery between November 2023 and February 2024. • To be Plant healthy certified (biosecurity protocols). • Delivered in the container in which they have been grown to avoid root disturbance and drying out at the point of dispatch as trees are repackaged. • Evidence of inspection of the trees before delivery to check for disease/pests. • Delivery to: one address within Essex.

A minimum level of specification is further outlined in the Market Engagement pack.

If you feel that you can meet the above requirements, please submit an Expression of Interest and respond to the Market Engagement questionnaire pack via PROACTIS.

Further details and a questionnaire pack can be obtained via the Council's e-sourcing portal, ProContract: https://procontract.due-north.com/Login and searching for project reference DN684302. Please note that you will need to register a supplier account to access the Market Engagement questionnaire pack. However, the registration process is free of charge and provides access to all the current and forthcoming procurement opportunities for Essex County Council alongside several other public sector organisations.

The deadline for the Market Engagement responses will be Friday 25th August 2023 at 12:00pm ; all responses and clarifications must be submitted via ProContract.

Please note that this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is not a call for competition and as such you will need to express your interest in any future tender opportunity once the contract notice is published in Find a Tender and on Contracts Finder. It should also be noted that this PIN invites individuals and organisations to express an interest in this exercise only, and it is NOT a pre-qualification questionnaire, and is NOT part of any pre-qualification or selection process for a future opportunity.