NL434 Runcorn Sites Term Landscape Maintenance and Cleansing Contract 2015 - 2018

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the single, national housing and regeneration delivery agency for England. Our vision is to create opportunity for people to live in homes they can afford in places they want to live, by enabling local authorities and communities to deliver the ambition they have for their own areas. For more information visit www.gov.uk/hca In the achievement of this vision, the HCA ‘holds’ large expanses of land and built estate. The HCA will work with local partners to develop, invest in and dispose of the assets in pursuit of the economic development and regeneration objectives agreed by local partners and in support of local strategies. Whilst these sites help facilitate the delivery of the vision for the organisation, they also bring duties of care, health and safety, trespass and other liabilities and responsibilities. As part of the solution to manage such liabilities the HCA procure Services to undertake routine and emergency activities on its estate. The HCA’s procurement is led by its duty of care in relation to health & safety and building conservation as well as their responsibilities surrounding the economy, environment and society. The HCA is seeking to appoint a competent Supplier for the provision of landscape management and cleansing services at 9 Sites located within its Runcorn portfolio. The Sites are located to the south and east of Runcorn with the majority concentrated within the area of Sandymoor in the borough of Halton. Typical planned works under this Contract comprise, but are not exclusively limited to the following; Site inspections, whereby the Contractor shall indicate; all matters relating to the maintenance specification, recommendations for necessary works, incidences of vandalism, flytipping, trespass and adjustments to the scheduled works; Grass cutting; Shrub maintenance; Weed Control and Cleansing. Suppliers should be aware that Unplanned works may arise over the term of the Contract which will be instructed by the HCA as and when required in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the Contract. Suppliers should note that this is a performance based Contract, the performance of which will be monitored through Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). The minimum level of Public & Employers Liability insurance cover needed for this Contract is £5 million and £10 million respectively. The Homes and Communities Agency wish to appoint a single Supplier to undertake the above Service for an initial 24 month term with provision for a further 12 month extension on written instruction of the Employer. Services are expected to be have commenced on site by 06th July 2015. All Suppliers must be confident that they have the capacity to start the Contract within the required timescale. The Runcorn Sites will be available for viewing during this Tender. Suppliers will be required to visit the site prior to Pricing and will be required to confirm this within the Tender return.

Additional information: Tender closing time is 1pm. So as to receive notifications of clarification questions asked by Suppliers and the Agency’s response, Suppliers must click the ‘Watch this Notice’ button on the notice within Contracts Finder to receive email notification when changes/updates are made to the notice. Please note in order to use this feature Suppliers must be registered with Contracts Finder. It is the Suppliers responsibility to check Contracts Finder for any updates to the procurement process throughout the tender process. No claim on the grounds of lack of knowledge of the above mentioned item will be entertained. Suppliers wishing to tender for HCA contracts which involve physical Works or Services such as construction, demolition or building maintenance, must either be registered and assessed by a prequalification assessment scheme which is a member of SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement), be able to demonstrate membership of an equivalent scheme or complete a Health and Safety Questionnaire. SSIP membership must either already be in place, or be likely to be in place when Tenders are to be returned to the HCA. Therefore, it is recommended that applications should already be submitted when Suppliers submit their Suitability Assessment. Further information on SSIP and details of assessment scheme members can be found on http://www.ssip.org.uk/. Details of equivalent membership schemes will be investigated and the HCA reserves the right to contact Suppliers to investigate this further in order to assess these fairly. For the avoidance of doubt details of equivalent membership schemes will need to be provided in English. All discussions, meetings and communications will be conducted in English.

The contract will be subject to English law. Tenders and all supporting documents must be priced in GBP and all payments under the contract will be made in GBP.

This procurement and award is subject to the transparency arrangements adopted by the UK Government. Please refer to the Tender Document for further information.

Suppliers are advised that the HCA is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("The Act"). If a Supplier considers that any of the information provided as part of this procurement procedure should not be disclosed because of its commercial sensitivity, confidential or otherwise, they must, when providing this information, clearly identify the specific information they do not wish to be disclosed and clearly specify the reasons for its sensitivity. Please refer to the Tender Document for further information.

The HCA takes a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption and sets high standards of impartiality, integrity and objectivity in relation to the stewardship of public funds and the management of its activities. Please refer to our Anti-bribery and Corruption Policy by visiting, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-bribery-and-corruption-policy for further information.