Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
West Midlands Combined Authority
16 Summer Lane
Birmingham
Telephone
+44 3453036760
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKG - West Midlands (England)
Internet address(es)
Main address
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Economy and Freight Programme – Stage 1 National
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 71311200 - Transport systems consultancy services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKG - West Midlands (England)
two.2.4) Description of the procurement at the time of conclusion of the contract:
The purpose of this notice is to cover / allow for work undertaken as part of the Economy and Freight Programme that forms part of the core modelling methodology.
The Economy and Freight Programme – Stage 1 National work was commissioned to help Midlands Connect take the next steps in strengthening their evidence base for freight / movement of goods across the region. The core modelling aspects of this was based around the Great British Freight Model (owned and services procured from MDST). The main role of the supplier, for this commission, was to:
1. Research, develop and provide input data for the modelling
2. Develop the modelling methodology, including testing and developing through the commission period
3. Provide analysis on the modelling outputs
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement, dynamic purchasing system or concession
Start date
21 December 2022
End date
31 March 2024
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 five. Award of contract/concession
Contract No
04133-2022
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract/concession award decision:
21 December 2022
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
WSP UK Ltd
London
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKG - West Midlands (England)
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: £300,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Royal Courts of Justice
The Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
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
- 71311200 - Transport systems consultancy services
seven.1.3) Place of performance
NUTS code
- UKG - West Midlands (England)
seven.1.4) Description of the procurement:
There are three main elements which combined have resulted in the need for the modification:
1. The finalisation of overall modelling methodology resulted in additional work / fees for several of the tasks. For clarity, this was where Midlands Connect has set out what we wanted as an output and / or as input into the model, and the improved methodology meant that additional work was required to deliver this – this was additional time / resources not additional tasks.
2. There were projects being proposed by Midlands Connect outside the EFP which, as the scope developed, was clear that they would strengthen the EFP modelling significantly and should be integrated into the EFP modelling. These projects would have been included in the EFP scoping at the outset if their scoping process had been more advanced and we had identified them but did not have the knowledge to do so as identified in the paragraph above.
3. The modelling testing has identified improvements and required enhancements to the model inputs. These are critical to ensure we get to the final modelling outputs at the end of the commission period.
Combined, these three additional aspects to the scope have significantly strengthened the core modelling methodology which in turn will strengthen the outputs (our evidence) due at the end of the commission period. The work undertaken has been adding to and enhancing the core methodology / our initial “plan” to develop and deliver a complex and comprehensive approach – something that would be very difficult to explain, train and involve another supplier as well as having data licensing barriers.
seven.1.5) Duration of the contract, framework agreement, dynamic purchasing system or concession
End date
31 March 2024
seven.1.6) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession:
£300,000
seven.1.7) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
WSP UK Ltd
London
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKG - West Midlands (England)
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):
The overarching task for the partnership team, particularly the supplier’s modelling team, is to plan, develop and enhance the EFP modelling methodology. Every aspect of this work is complex and intricately linked together and a key part of the early stages has been to plan how to do this and bring together three complex models which, as far as we are aware, has not been done before. Approaching parts of the modelling work alone is not an option as there are so many dependencies and interactions, hence, why we developed the EFP approach / appointed the EFP partner.
Existing Model Inputs-
The individual inputs were developed alongside the overall methodology and the scope of these was adapted as the modelling methodology developed and was tested. Much of the additional work required was small and intricate developments and enhancements to the inputs to meet the requirements of the merging modelling methodology and to include some important information that was not considered in the initial scoping stages. The smaller pieces of work were heavily entwined with the other input development and wider modelling methodology. There was no work that emerged from these enhancements that could be packaged up into a specific task or project. In summary, the additional work was the sum of many smaller parts that required small amount of extra time / resources which resulted in a higher cost overall.
To compete the remaining input enhancements following the first major test run of the modelling methodology, which has the principal aim of identifying problems and weaknesses, more budget is required. As above, these enhancements will be many small developments and improvements across the various model inputs. In some cases, fixing the data and in other cases fixing how they feed into the model. The approach to this is from the overall modelling perspective and therefore will not be approached on an input-by-input or improvement-by-improvement basis but in a more cohesive way (i.e., all the inputs need to “talk to” and complement each other for the modelling to work). This involves many intricacies and interdependencies and, in many cases, may require the modelling specialist to go right back to the beginning of the input development to fix the issue / error. Therefore, a fundamental understanding of how all the many different parts of the work have been developed so far and how all the many different parts interact together and with the overall model. There is no feasible way of packaging these improvements for another commission. This is not in addition to the core work; it is improving some of the elements of the work to deliver a better-quality core output.
Additional Model Inputs-
Much of the above also applied to the two additional inputs. The two inputs were identified as very important to the overall work and not including them would be a missed opportunity. As explained above the development, enhancement, and inclusion of inputs into the new modelling methodology is complex and has many interdependencies. It would not be possible to develop inputs separately and then incorporate into the emerging model without having the current suppliers detailed knowledge of the work to date. These inputs are also subject to the same ongoing improvement, enhancement and learning as the original inputs and will be continually amended in conjunction with the other improvements and enhancements as they all need to ‘talk to each other’.
Licencing-
In addition to the above, there are significant data licencing barriers to appointing another consultant. The current data licence would not allow another supplier to access the modelling data which would be critical to delivering any aspect of the additional work. It has been made clear that this cannot be changed. The intention is to retender for each stage of the work in line with the data licence periods, i.e., each financial year, in this case March 2024 for Stage 2 of the work.
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:
At the outset of this commission, we did not have a defined tasks specification, as a key role of the supplier was to help us develop our methodology and specification through the expertise within the partnership and in response to the modelling tests. This resulted in the scope of work being developed, amended, added to, and removed throughout the commission period, and the same will be required going forward as we await the first major test results.
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: £300,000
Total contract value after the modifications
Value excluding VAT: £450,000