Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service
c/o Construction Procurement Delivery, Clare House, 303 Airport Road West
Belfast
BT3 9ED
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKN06 - Belfast
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Not on any register
Internet address(es)
Main address
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
DoJ - NICTS - Office Cleaning for Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service
Reference number
CFT835036
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 90910000 - Cleaning services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN - Northern Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement at the time of conclusion of the contract:
The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) (the Client's) estate currently comprises 24 locations made up of courthouses and administrative locations throughout Northern Ireland. There are four part-time venues namely: Enniskillen, Limavady, Magherafelt and Strabane; four vacant properties namely: Banbridge, Bangor, Larne and Old Townhall; all other venues are open five days per week, Monday to Friday. The buildings are listed in Annex 1 of the specification which
provides detail of venue, address, opening times, public opening times, number of courts and size.
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement, dynamic purchasing system or concession
Duration in months
48
Section four. Procedure
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.1) Contract award notice concerning this contract
Notice number: 2018/S 001-001792
Section five. Award of contract/concession
Contract No
CFT835036
Title
DoJ - NICTS - Office Cleaning for Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract/concession award decision:
22 December 2017
five.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract/concession has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
Construction & Procurement Delivery (CPD) cannot publish the name of the appointed contractor for security reasons.
N/A
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKN - Northern Ireland
Companies House
Withheld for security reasons.
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession (at the time of conclusion of the contract;excluding VAT)
Total value of the procurement: £2,700,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
The UK does not currently have any such bodies with responsibilities for appeal /mediation procedures.
N/A
Country
United Kingdom
Section seven: Modifications to the contract/concession
seven.1) Description of the procurement after the modifications
seven.1.1) Main CPV code
- 90910000 - Cleaning services
seven.1.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 90919200 - Office cleaning services
seven.1.3) Place of performance
NUTS code
- UKN - Northern Ireland
seven.1.4) Description of the procurement:
The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) (the Client's) estate currently comprises 24 locations made up of courthouses and administrative locations throughout Northern Ireland. There are 4 part-time venues namely: Enniskillen, Limavady, Magherafelt and Strabane; 4 vacant properties namely: Banbridge,Bangor, Larne and Old Townhall; all other venues are open 5 days per week, Monday to Friday. The buildings are listed in Annex 1 of the specification which provides detail of venue, address, opening times, public opening times, number of courts and size.
seven.1.5) Duration of the contract, framework agreement, dynamic purchasing system or concession
Duration in months
72
seven.1.6) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession:
£5,200,000
seven.1.7) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
Withheld for security reasons
Withheld for security reasons
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKN - Northern Ireland
Companies House
Withheld for security reasons
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
seven.2) Information about modifications
seven.2.1) Description of the modifications
Nature and extent of the modifications (with indication of possible earlier changes to the contract):
Contract was originally awarded for up to four years (2+2), and was due to expire on 31st March 2022. Was modified in February 2021 for an additional year (1/4/22 - 31/3/23).
This modification is to maintain service provision for an additional year (1/4/23 - 31/3/24).
seven.2.2) Reasons for modification
Need for modification brought about by circumstances which a diligent contracting authority/entity could not foresee.
Description of the circumstances which rendered the modification necessary and explanation of the unforeseen nature of these circumstances:
2022-23 modification: The pandemic has had a detrimental impact on staff resources within NICTS, and other users, to enable them to successfully manage a new procurement exercise at that time as NICTS staff's priority was to ensure business continuity and as such key individuals would be unable to participate in the procurement process (development of requirements, tender evaluation etc.).
To initiate a procurement process in this climate, when there is so much uncertainty regarding availability of key staff was considered a potential risk.
It would also be difficult for NICTS to define and scope their current/future requirements due to the ever changing way that courts business is currently being delivered and whether their current cleaning model would need to be retained if and when Covid related measures could be scaled back. It would also be beneficial to NICTS that we ensure that the current service provider can build on the changes that have been implemented over the last year and NICTS would have concerns regarding the impact that changing service providers at this time could have in meeting the current standards expected by NICTS staff and court users.
2023-24 modification: Whilst still not fully resourced to manage a large number of procurements NICTS had intended to initiate the procurement and have a new contract awarded and in place ready to commence 1 April 2023. Unfortunately they are unable to clearly specify their requirements for the next 5/7 years as the current cleaning model has a number of Covid related roles specifically tasked to focus on touch points throughout the buildings. As no decision has been made at this time by the NICS regarding the reduction/removal of the covid mitigations (removal of social distancing or return to work) there would be a number of challenges that we would encounter if NICTS were to proceed to tender at this time. Those include:-
1. What model NICTS would specify i.e. the current Covid model or the pre Covid model. There are currently 22 covid specific related posts out of 57 posts in total on the contract.
2. If NICTS specified the current covid model there would be the risk that value for money would not be achieved as we would more than likely incur higher rates if companies built in the cost of redundancies of those staff we deemed to longer require.
3. Companies may be put off from bidding due to the uncertainty of NICTS requirements so value for money would not be properly tested/achieved.
4. There are current supply chain issues and inflated cost issues that might impact on the roll out of a programme for washroom fitting replacements if NICTS were to change service provider at this time. This might make start-up costs in the current climate higher.
5. Having a further 1 year with the existing service provider would enable NICTS to manage the reduction of the staffing resources on a phased approach. This would reduce the impact on costs if it was decided that they would cover the one off redundancy payment if we decided to remove all the covid resources at a certain period of time.
seven.2.3) Increase in price
Updated total contract value before the modifications (taking into account possible earlier contract modifications, price adaptions and average inflation)
Value excluding VAT: £2,700,000
Total contract value after the modifications
Value excluding VAT: £5,200,000