Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Warrington Borough Council
Town Hall, Sankey Street
Warrington
WA1 1UH
Contact
Mr Adam Simpson
Telephone
+44 1925443266
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKD61 - Warrington
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's 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
Cultural Services
Reference number
DN718023
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 92500000 - Library, archives, museums and other cultural services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Culture Warrington (Company number 07974406) are contracted by Warrington Borough Council to manage a number of facilities including Parr Hall, Pyramid Arts Centre and Warrington Museum
and Art Gallery, as well as cultural and heritage services including education services
to primary schools and outreach activities.
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value excluding VAT: £22,000,000
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKD61 - Warrington
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Culture Warrington (Company number 07974406) are contracted by Warrington Borough Council to manage a number of facilities including Parr Hall, Pyramid Arts Centre and Warrington Museum
and Art Gallery, as well as cultural and heritage services including education services
to primary schools and outreach activities.
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Negotiated without a prior call for competition
- The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:
- absence of competition for technical reasons
Explanation:
Culture Warrington are contracted by Warrington Borough Council ("the Council") to manage a
number of facilities including Parr Hall, Pyramid Arts Centre and Warrington Museum
and Art Gallery, as well as delivering cultural and heritage services including education services
to primary schools and outreach activities.
Culture Warrington were established at the same time as LiveWire (Warrington) CIC ("LiveWire"), in May 2012, as a separate charity to deliver these services. Whilst Culture Warrington are a separate entity to LiveWire, they have a number of shared management and central services staff in order to maximise efficiency.
The Council have recently in-housed leisure, life-styles and wellbeing services which were provided by LiveWire and this has caused a requirement to separate some of the shared services. Up until the transfer of services in-house, Culture Warrington purchased these services from LiveWire for an annual fee. As a result of LiveWire no longer delivering these services to Culture Warrington, they have undertaken a review and have confirmed that in order to resource the posts required they will require an uplift of their annual fee by £161,000 per year.
Whilst the original Culture Warrington contract was entered into under the Public Contract Regulations 2006 as a “Part B” contract, any significant modification to the Culture Warrington contract needs to be considered in the context of Public Contract Regulations 2015, specifically regulation 72.
This Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice is therefore submitted on the basis of the modification of the Culture Warrington contract being a lawful modification under Regulation 72(1)(f) on the grounds that the modification is no more than 10% of the initial contract cost and is below the relevant threshold.
The Culture Warrington contract's annual fee was £1,339,009. On the basis of the contract being for 15 years (that is the length of the contract that the Council and Culture Warrington are now committed to as a minimum), 10% of the initial contract value is therefore £2,008,513.50 (£1,339,009 x 15 years = £20,085,135 @ 10%). As a Light Touch contract, the total permitted value of any uplift under Regulation 72 (1)(f) is therefore up to the Light Touch threshold of £663,540.
Pursuant to Regulation 72(6), which confirms that the value of a modification is the net cumulative value of all modifications to the contract over its duration. The fees paid, or to be paid over the 15 year contract duration, including the proposed fee uplift are below:-
2012/13 - £1,339,009
2013/14 £1,352,391
2014/15 £1,352,391
2015/16 £1,352,391
2016/17 £1,302,391
2017/18 £1,302,391
2018/19 £1,302,391
2019/20 £1,172,391
2020/21 £1,172,391
2021/22 £1,172,391
2022/23 £1,172,391
2023/24 £1,518,590
2024/25 £1,550,391
2025/26 £1,550,391
2026/27 £1,550,391
1 April 2027 - 1 – 14 May 2027 £193,799
The total amount to be paid over 15 years is therefore £20,356,418. This amounts to a total increase in the contract cost of £103,970 and as such is within the level permitted by Regulation 72(1)(f) and is therefore deemed to be a lawful modification.
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No
Section five. Award of contract/concession
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
1 April 2024
five.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
Culture Warrington
Pyramid Arts Centre, Palmyra Square South
Warrington
WA11BL
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKD61 - Warrington
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
Yes
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £20,356,418
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Warrington Borough Council
Town Hall, Sankey Street
Warrington
WA1 1UH
Country
United Kingdom