Leisure Development and Management Services

Reading Borough Council (the Council) is seeking an innovative Strategic Leisure Partner (the Contractor) with the necessary technical knowledge, experience, and capability to enhance and maintain the Council's leisure portfolio. The Council wish to enter into a long-term partnership with a Contractor for a contract duration that is envisaged to be between a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 25 years. Once in operation the Council may reserve the right to extend the contract term but only to an overall maximum contract length of 25 years. The Council anticipate that the length of the contract period including potential extension period(s) will be a subject discussed with Bidders during the project dialogue phase.

The overarching aim of the project is to transform the current leisure offer in Reading to align with the Council's vision, priorities and outcomes for leisure. The Council wish to secure a Contractor that can deliver an efficient and economically sustainable programme of continued investment in sport, sporting facilities and physical activity over the contract period.

The Council intends to undertake a competitive dialogue process in accordance with Regulation 74, Light Touch Regime (LTR) and that RBC is applying the procedure corresponding to the competitive dialogue procedure with the following variations: - 30.(5) The contract shall be awarded on the sole basis of the award criterion of the best commercial-technical evaluation criteria detailed in section 18 of this document. - 30.(8a), (12), (13) The Council envisage utilising Pre-Submission Meetings to provide clarifications to Bidders prior to ISOS and ISDS submissions. The Council envisage Dialogue will be undertaken following ISDS submission once a solution has been presented that enables both parties to engage in dialogue. The Council reserve the right to make further variations to the dialogue procedure at a later date during the process.

Additional information: Organisations interested in expressing an interest in this procurement should download the procurement documents which are available on the Council`s e-tendering system at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/readingbc/aspx/Home and complete as instructed.

The Portal is free of charge - to register please follow the supplier registration guidance which is available on the Portal. Contractors wishing to be considered for this tendering opportunity must complete the tender documents and return them electronically via the Council`s e-tendering portal.

Please note: you must register your interest via the Council`s e-tendering portal if you intend to submit a tender. Interested parties must log onto the Council`s e-tendering portal at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/readingbc, to express an interest and download the procurement documents. All communications regarding this procurement exercise will be conducted through the Council`s e-tendering portal including requests for clarifications or general enquiries. The procurement documents will be available for download up until the closing time and date for tender submissions, it is the organisation`s responsibility to ensure that they download the documents in ample time to ensure that they can be completed and returned electronically, along with supporting documents, prior to the closing time and date stipulated. Before completing the tender, potential providers/suppliers should ensure that the e-mail address that has been used to register their organisation will be checked regularly as the Council`s e-tendering system will generate automatic notifications to this e-mail address when there are updates, changes or messages sent relating to the project. Potential bidders should also check that their organisation`s details are correct and kept up to date.

Technical questions and assistance regarding the use and operation of the Portal should be addressed to the In-Tend Help Desk - e-mail: [email protected], telephone number +44 8442728810.