Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Chief Executive which advised Members of the progress made in implementing the agreed procurement process.

The Board was advised that at the special meeting of the Mersey Gateway Executive Board on 15 February 2012 Members had agreed the prequalification result and authorised the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader, to move to commence the tendering process by issuing the ITPD document to Bidders. 

On 16 February the six Bidders had been informed of the prequalification result by letter from the Project Director. The letter offered the unsuccessful candidates a debriefing opportunity, which they all accepted. The debriefing meetings had taken on 29 February 2012. Letters to the three successful candidates had also offered to provide feedback on performance and these debriefing meetings had taken place on 1 March 2012.

The Board was further advised that a press release announcing the results of prequalification had been released on 17 February 2012. The Department for Transport press office had been consulted on the draft release. The selected Bidders were reported in local news and appeared across the national technical journals and the media. A copy of the press release was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.

It was reported that the letter to the three Bidders had set out the expected timetable for commencing the tendering process.  The ITPD was planned to be issued to Bidders during the week of 12 March 2012, to be discussed at a Dialogue Commencement meeting with each Bidder during the following week. Over the coming year, Dialogue meetings were envisaged to be held at the Stadium with the occasional meeting held in the offices of DLAP in Manchester or London. On average it was expected that we would meet with each Bidder once every three weeks.  The ITPD set out the Council’s agenda covering a schedule of meetings up to November 2012. The Project organisation to progress the Dialogue process was attached at Appendix 2 to the report.

Furthermore, instructions to Bidders, as part of the ITPD, included measures to ensure that communication between the Council and Bidders were classified as commercial in confidence, to ensure competition was protected so that the Council received bids that maximised the potential to secure value for money.  The integrity of the competition relies on the security of information and discussions during an extended procurement process. The governance arrangements agreed with the Board envisaged the confidential nature of issues arising during Dialogue and were reflected in the Chief Executive being given delegated authority to deliver procurement in consultation with the Leader. This delegation provided the project team with access to a streamlined chain of authority where decisions could be taken expeditiously in circumstances that maintained confidentiality. The regular meetings of the MGEB, at every two months would enable reports on progress to be made to keep the Board up to date with key issues arising in the Dialogue process. Alongside these arrangements, the portfolio holder Cllr Stockton also held regular meetings with the Project Director.

In conclusion, it was reported that the high level procurement programme was attached at Appendix 3 to the report. The projections were in line with advice given to members previously and progress would be monitored against this programme.

RESOLVED: That the Board note that

(1)              the six candidates who participated in prequalification have been advised of the selection result and meetings with each group have taken place to provide feedback on performance; and  

(2)         the documentation required to support the formal Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) has been completed and issued to the three Bidders.