Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Kent County Council
Sessions House
Maidstone
ME14 1XQ
Contact
Mr Cameron Croucher
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKJ - South East (England)
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's address
one.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert/Index?advertId=0d7c1ef7-d9b4-ec11-8113-005056b64545
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
SC22137 - Highway Weed Control Services
Reference number
DN605940
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 77000000 - Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest local authority in England covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over £1bn on goods and services and a population of 1.6m. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with the NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, 12 district councils, and 289 parish/town councils. KCC consists of four directorates:
• Adult Social Care and Health;
• Children, Young People and Education;
• Growth, Environment and Transport; and
• Strategic and Corporate Services.
This service is being commissioned on behalf of the Growth, Environment and Transport directorate.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £2,400,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKJ - South East (England)
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest county council in England, covering an area of 3 500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over GBP 900 000 000 on goods and services and a population of 1 300 000. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils and 305 parish and town councils. The Council is responsible for maintaining over 8 700 km of carriageways and 6 300 km of footways across the County.
This service is for highway weed control spraying, provided primarily through programmed work with flexibility for additional ad-hoc provision.
This contract will facilitate two programmed weed treatments per year to highway hard surfaces. The contract will also provide for the treatment of noxious weeds such as Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed.
Consideration is being given to evaluate a commercial strategy which will lot the districts into an appropriate quantity of work. The Contract is currently arranged as follows:
Lot 1 – Dartford & Gravesham
Lot 2 – Sevenoaks & Tonbridge & Malling
Lot 3 – Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells
Lot 4 – Ashford & Swale
Lot 5 – Canterbury & Thanet
Procurement process:
It is our current intention to use the Competitive Procedure with Negotiation for the procurement process, although this will be confirmed in 2022 as part of our Commercial Strategy. The Selection Questionnaire will be released in Summer 2022, with the ITT following this later in the year. Further details will be released via the Kent Business Portal.
Market engagement:
As part of this process, the Council wishes to engage with the market to gain their insights and experience in this field as well as strategies for reducing herbicide usage. We intend to conduct some market engagement meetings during the week of 16 - 20 May 2022. We will send invites to these meetings based on responses to the below question. Please express an interest in this opportunity, and then provide your response to the following via the Messages facility on the Kent Business Portal:
The Council will use this engagement to inform interested suppliers of our progress and may also ask for feedback on potential proposals as they develop.
Organisations who do not express an interest in response to this PIN will not be precluded from applying to take part in the Council's chosen procurement strategy and conclusion of our engagement findings will be shared with the published call or calls for competition.
Forms for completion:
Please find attached a Market Engagement Questionnaire designed to gather information relating to this tender, which will be used to inform KCC’s strategy for commissioning these services.
Please complete and return via the Message function on the Kent Business Portal no later than 12:00 noon on 29th April 2022.
two.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: £2,400,000
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
This contract is subject to renewal
Yes
Description of renewals
The current contract expires on 31st March 2023.
two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice
1 July 2022
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes