Scope
Reference
DN788642
Description
Wigan Council are seeking to procure the main construction works for the relocation of Hope School and College to the Central Park Site, Montrose Avenue, Wigan. The school is a SEND school for severe learning difficulties and profound and complex physical/medical needs and has a catchment area of the whole of the borough.
The main build will comprise of 2 new state of the art SEND buildings, one including 13 primary school age classrooms, alongside hydrotherapy pool, kitchen, rebound room, and reception offices (GIFA 2387m2) and a secondary school building with 10 secondary school classrooms, with dining hall, reheat kitchen, and seven specialist resource rooms - art room, food tech, ICT etc (GIFA 1586m2). A third block is to be created utilising an existing 2 storey building to form the main administration facility for the school and the area for the most complex needs pupils (GIFA 1455m2). Externals include car park with drop off area, playgrounds and soft landscaping.
The estimated value of the works is GBP 18 million.
The procurement is being carried out in two stages using the Competitive Flexible procedure. Stage 1 - Invitation to Participate will comprise of a pre-qualification questionnaire including a scored assessment. This stage will be used to identify a shortlist of suppliers to go through to the next stage. It is intended to invite the top 5 scoring bids at Stage 1 to be invited to submit a final tender bid at Stage 2 - Invitation to Tender.
Total value (estimated)
- £18,000,000 excluding VAT
- £21,600,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 16 March 2026 to 15 March 2027
- 1 year
Main procurement category
Works
CPV classifications
- 45000000 - Construction work
Contract locations
- UKD3 - Greater Manchester
Participation
Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation
The bidder, and their Associated Persons identified for this contract, must provide responses to a series of Mandatory and Discretionary Exclusion questions as part of their core supplier information on Find a Tender (Central Digital Platform), and the bidder must respond to Corporate and Professional Standing questions in Section 3 of the Common Assessment Standard. Responses will be assessed in line with the supplier suitability assessment detailed in the Invitation to Participate documentation.
The Authority will carry out a review of a bidder's financial stability and risk following a review of financial information submitted. This may include a review of financial risk reports obtained independently by Wigan Council from providers such as Equifax, Dun and Bradstreet, Company Watch etc. which confirm this position.
The bidder must have a minimum annual turnover of £35million.
The bidder must confirm whether they are relying on another supplier to act as a guarantor and, if so, provide evidence of their economic and financial standing, which will be subject to a financial assessment of financial stability and risk.
The bidder must commit to obtain a Parent Company Guarantee (in the event of a contractor having a parent company) and a Performance Bond or guarantee from a bank or other approved surety.
The bidder must hold, or commit to obtain, prior to the award of the contract, the levels of insurance cover as follows: Public Liability insurance - a minimum of £10million is required in respect of each and every claim, unlimited in any one year; Employers Liability insurance - a minimum of £5million is required in respect of each and every claim, unlimited in any one year; Professional Indemnity insurance - a minimum of £5million in respect of any one claim covering all employees; Works insurance - £10million in respect of each and every event and not in the aggregate.
Bidders which are classed as a relevant commercial organisation as defined by section 54 ("Transparency in supply chains etc") of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ("the Act") need to be compliant with the annual reporting requirements contained within Section 54 of the Act 2015.
Technical ability conditions of participation
The bidder must have experience of constructing educational buildings, including SEND buildings, within the last 5 years.
Where the bidder is to sub-contract a proportion of the contract, evidence is required to demonstrate maintenance of a healthy supply chain with subcontractors and the procedures used to ensure performance of the contract.
The bidder will be required to hold the following organisational qualifications or standards: Considerate Constructors Scheme.
The bidder will be required to complete/evidence/certify against the 'Common Assessment Standard' question set in line with the assessment methodology detailed in the Invitation to Participate documentation.
Submission
Enquiry deadline
10 October 2025, 12:00pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
17 October 2025, 12:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Suppliers to be invited to tender
5 suppliers
Selection criteria:
Stage 1 - Invitation to Participate - will consist of a supplier suitability assessment, assessed on a Pass/Fail basis, of responses to a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) which will include the Common Assessment Standard (CAS).
This stage will also involve bidders responding to a series of supplementary questions which will take the form of a scored assessment. The scored supplementary questions include Experience (60%, consisting of 3 case study responses with each case study worth 20% of the scoring), Minimising Disruption (30%) and Local Economy (10%).
It is intended to invite the top 5 scoring bids at Stage 1 - Invitation to Participate of this Competitive Flexible Procedure to submit a tender at Stage 2 - Invitation to Tender.
Award decision date (estimated)
16 February 2026
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Price |
Price | 60.00% |
| Quality/Social Value | Quality/Social Value. |
Quality | 40.00% |
Other information
Applicable trade agreements
- Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Competitive flexible procedure description
Wigan Council are procuring this contract using a two-stage 'Restricted Tender' process under the Competitive Flexible Procedure. A full description of the process to be followed is contained within the Invitation to Participate documentation. In brief, the process to be followed is as follows:
Stage 1 - Invitation to Participate - will consist of a supplier suitability assessment of responses to a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) which will include the Common Assessment Standard (CAS). This stage will also involve bidders responding to a series of supplementary questions which will take the form of a scored assessment. It is intended to invite the top 5 scoring bids at Stage 1 - Invitation to Participate of this Competitive Flexible Procedure to submit a tender at Stage 2 - Invitation to Tender.
Stage 2 - Invitation to Tender - at this stage the shortlisted bidders will be asked to provide a final tender bid for the project. This will consist of a fixed-price tender for this project as well as responses to Quality and Social Value questions. Both Price and Quality/Social Value elements will be assessed in line with the Invitation to Tender Award Criteria. The intention of this stage is to identify the supplier submitting the most advantageous tender to whom an intended award of contract will be made.
Documents
Associated tender documents
https://www.the-chest.org.uk
Associated tender documents are available via The Chest procurement portal.
Documents to be provided after the tender notice
Documents at Stage 2 - Invitation to Tender will be provided via The Chest procurement portal at https://www.the-chest.org.uk to shortlisted bidders.
Contracting authority
Wigan Council
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PCGG-6481-TZPW
Town Hall
Wigan
WN1 1YN
United Kingdom
Email: Procurement@wigan.gov.uk
Website: http://www.wigan.gov.uk/
Region: UKD36 - Greater Manchester North West
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government