EAP.NW.012 EAP Merseyside and Greater Manchester Term Landscape Maintenance & Cleansing Contract 2016 - 2019

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the single, national housing and regeneration delivery agency for England. For more information visit www.gov.uk/hca. The HCA ‘holds’ large expanses of land and built estate. 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 maintenance and cleansing services at 12 Sites located within its EAP Merseyside and Greater Manchester portfolio. The sites vary in size, character and complexity. Since a number is sites are used as, or adjacent to public open space the identification of health and safety risks is a priority. 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; Ornamental Shrub, Hedge Cutting; Tree Works, 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 under the same Terms and Conditions as this contract. Any contract extensions will be based on tendered rates and prices. Services are expected to be have commenced on site by 1st October 2016. All Suppliers must be confident that they have the capacity to start the Contract within the required timescale. The EAP Merseyside and Manchester Sites will be available for viewing during this Tender. Suppliers will be required to visit the sites prior to Pricing and will be required to confirm this within the Tender return.

Additional information: Tender return 13.00pm OJEU Tender Reference 2016/S 140-252903. Due to size, the tender packaged and all supporting Appendices are provided on a Client Access Web Portal for you to access and download. To obtain the documents: • Enter the following URL into the address bar of your internet browser Http://clientportal.tep.uk.com • When prompted for a username enter: Tepca7 (be careful not to include a space after the username) • When prompted for a password enter: TepMGM0607 Please ensure your type in the username and password and do not copy and paste as this will not work. 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. 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/. 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"). 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 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-bribery-and-corruption-policy for further information.