Contract

Sustainable Drainage Technical Support

  • East Sussex County Council

F03: Contract award notice

Notice identifier: 2023/S 000-018510

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-03dd77

Published 29 June 2023, 11:44am



Section one: Contracting authority

one.1) Name and addresses

East Sussex County Council

County Hall,St. Annes Crescent

LEWES

BN71UE

Contact

Chloe Sharpe

Email

chloe.sharpe@eastsussex.gov.uk

Telephone

+44 1273336173

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UKJ22 - East Sussex CC

Justification for not providing organisation identifier

Not on any register

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/

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

Sustainable Drainage Technical Support

Reference number

2920

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 90713000 - Environmental issues consultancy services

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

Under the Town and Country Planning Act, the County Council performs two statutory consultee

roles, namely the Lead Local Flood Authority and the Highway Authority. To ensure that the County

Council is able to appropriately discharge these roles and ensure that planning authorities are able

to make timely decisions on planning applications and meet Government set performance targets,

it is essential that the two teams that perform these roles are appropriately resourced.

What has become apparent over the past 12-15 months is that the absence of up-to-date Local

Plans in most planning authority areas, coupled with high housing delivery/need targets, has led

to a significant increase in applications and pre-application enquiries for residential schemes that

have not already been allocated in Local Plans.

With this taken into account, it has been recommended that two additional roles be created and

recruited into in the Flood Risk Management team, to primarily consider and respond to planning

consultations. The team have tried recruiting into the roles via the standard recruitment

processes within the authority, both via HR and through the Temporary Resources contract, on a

number of occasions, none of which have been successful. As such, they are now seeking to

recruit via the external consultancy market in order to fill the roles.

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: £240,000

two.2) Description

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UKJ22 - East Sussex CC

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

Under the Town and Country Planning Act, the County Council performs two statutory consultee

roles, namely the Lead Local Flood Authority and the Highway Authority. To ensure that the County

Council is able to appropriately discharge these roles and ensure that planning authorities are able

to make timely decisions on planning applications and meet Government set performance targets,

it is essential that the two teams that perform these roles are appropriately resourced.

What has become apparent over the past 12-15 months is that the absence of up-to-date Local

Plans in most planning authority areas, coupled with high housing delivery/need targets, has led

to a significant increase in applications and pre-application enquiries for residential schemes that

have not already been allocated in Local Plans.

With this taken into account, it has been recommended that two additional roles be created and

recruited into in the Flood Risk Management team, to primarily consider and respond to planning

consultations. The team have tried recruiting into the roles via the standard recruitment

processes within the authority, both via HR and through the Temporary Resources contract, on a

number of occasions, none of which have been successful. As such, they are now seeking to

recruit via the external consultancy market in order to fill the roles.

An open procedure was run via the Proactis Procurement Portal

two.2.5) Award criteria

Price

two.2.11) Information about options

Options: No


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.1) Type of procedure

Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the cases listed below

  • The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the regulations

Explanation:

A prior information notice was published (2023/S 000-004582) but a contract opportunity notice was not, this happened in error

four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes

four.2) Administrative information

four.2.9) Information about termination of call for competition in the form of a prior information notice

The contracting authority will not award any further contracts based on the above prior information notice


Section five. Award of contract

Title

Sustainable Drainage Technical Support

A contract/lot is awarded: Yes

five.2) Award of contract

five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract

28 June 2023

five.2.2) Information about tenders

Number of tenders received: 1

The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No

five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor

Ardent Consulting Engineers

3rd Floor, The Hallmark Building, 52-56 Leadenhall Street

London

EC3M 5JE

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code
  • UKI - London
Companies House

05463029

The contractor is an SME

No

five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)

Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: £240,000

Total value of the contract/lot: £240,000


Section six. Complementary information

six.4) Procedures for review

six.4.1) Review body

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand

London

Country

United Kingdom