Scope
Description
Wealden District Council are seeking to appoint a suitable qualified and experienced main contractor for delivery of a new medical centre in Polegate and Willingdon to increase primary care infrastructure in the area. This is to be located at the new Hindsland residential development at Eastbourne Road, Lower Willingdon, BN20 9NU.
The proposed medical centre was proposed as part of the planning application for the wider Hindsland residential development to provide a new, state-of-the-art primary care centre which would enable two existing Polegate GP practices - Downlands and Manor Park - to co-locate.
The proposed medical facility will consolidate the undersized and outdated Downlands and Manor Park GP practices into a new primary care facility. The objective is to meet modern NHS standards for primary care provision, support the growing demand, both in terms of quality and volume, for medical services and enhance patient care by enabling increased capacity, accessibility and operational efficiency.
The building will be approximately 2003m2 GIA and three storeys high, fully accessible, and offering a large car park for patients and staff along with ambulance bay and utility vehicles.
The centre will also be delivered to BREAAM excellent standard. Features will include low carbon materials, solar panels and air source heat pumps for hot water, heating and cooling.
Initially, the successful tenderer will be appointed under a Pre-Construction Services Agreement (PCSA). This agreement will enable the contractor to work collaboratively with the client team during the pre-construction phase.
Subject to satisfactory performance under the PCSA and agreement on key terms (including price, programme, and risk allocation), the contractor may then be formally appointed under a construction contract to deliver the works. The form of contract will be JCT Design and Build 2016.
A planned procurement notice has not been completed as the contracting authority does not wish to reduce the timescales of this tender.
Total value (estimated)
- £10,500,000 excluding VAT
- £12,600,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 9 February 2026 to 30 November 2027
- 1 year, 9 months, 20 days
Main procurement category
Works
CPV classifications
- 45000000 - Construction work
- 71220000 - Architectural design services
Contract locations
- UKJ22 - East Sussex CC
Submission
Enquiry deadline
10 October 2025, 11:59pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
21 October 2025, 2:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Submission must be made through the Council's e-tendering portal here: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/esph/aspx/Home
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
19 January 2026
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Simple description | Shortlisted suppliers will receive the invitation to tender and will be required to submit a qualitative and pricing response by the response deadline. The tenders will be evaluated on a Cost and... |
Price |
Weighting description
Shortlisted suppliers will receive the invitation to tender and will be required to submit a qualitative and pricing response by the response deadline. The tenders will be evaluated on a Cost and Quality split of 40:60 respectively. The award criteria and sub-criteria is as follows:
- Method Statements (20)
- - PCSA Phase (8)
- - Construction Phase (8)
- - Site Plan and Logistics (4)
- Programme (8)
- Resourcing (7)
- - Key delivery team (4)
- - Work packaging and resourcing (3)
- Communication (5)
-...
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Competitive flexible procedure description
Wealden District Council is conducting this Competitive Flexible Procedure over two stages:
Stage 1: Conditions of participation
Interested suppliers are invited to submit evidence of their suitability to deliver the contract. Suitability is defined within the Conditions of Participation set out within the documents and prospective suppliers must demonstrate their capabilities by providing by the closing date:
- A completed Project Specific Questionnaire (PSQ)
- 3-4 contract examples that demonstrate the required experience, as set out in the documents.
All compliant submissions received before the closing date will be assessed against the Conditions of Participation. These Conditions of Participation include questions in respect of the following items that will be assessed on a pass/fail basis:
- Economic and Financial Standing
- Insurance Provision
- Legal capability
- GDPR compliance
- Technical ability (contract examples)
- Sub-contractor management
- Health and safety
- Quality management
- Supply chain payments
- Payment terms for public sector contracts
- Payments for public and private sector contracts
- Carbon reduction plan
- Modern slavery statement
The contract examples provided to evidence technical capability will be assessed against the council's minimum experience criteria. These criteria are:
- At least two contracts must demonstrate the delivery of medical facilities e.g. hospitals, dental, care-homes, science lab etc.
- At least two contracts where the supplier was appointed under a PCSA.
- At least one contract delivered to BREAAM Excellent
Suppliers that demonstrate this minimum experience within their case studies will achieve a pass, and will then have their contract examples evaluated against the selection criteria. The council's selection criteria requirements are and their relative weighting out of 100 are as follows:
- Local supply chain (20)
- Social value (5)
- Capacity (20)
- Environmental (10)
- Programme (20)
- Added Value (5)
- Cost planning and budget control (20)
Suppliers will be ranked according to their scores for their submitted contract examples, with the highest scoring five suppliers to be shortlisted to receive the Invitation to Tender. The council is under no obligation to shortlist to the maximum of five suppliers, and reserves the right to select a reduced shortlist.
Stage 2: Invitation to Tender
Shortlisted suppliers will receive the invitation to tender and will be required to submit a qualitative and pricing response by the response deadline. The tenders will be evaluated on a Cost and Quality split of 40:60 respectively. The award criteria and sub-criteria is as follows:
- Method Statements (20)
- - PCSA Phase (8)
- - Construction Phase (8)
- - Site Plan and Logistics (4)
- Programme (8)
- Resourcing (7)
- - Key delivery team (4)
- - Work packaging and resourcing (3)
- Communication (5)
- Environmental (10)
- Social Value (10)
- Cost (40)
Note the evaluation criteria will be fully defined upon the publication of the 2nd stage tender where there may be changes to the wording, scoring criteria, and sub-criteria.
All compliant submissions will be evaluated in accordance with the award criteria set out in this notice and in the procurement documents, with the most advantageous tender being the supplier who achieves the highest score.
After the receipt and evaluation of tenders the Council reserves the right to seek clarification from any bidder about the contents of their submission. As part of the evaluation process the Council reserves the right to hold clarification meetings with some or all of the shortlisted tenderers.
While the tender process, including Stage 1 and Stage 2 award criteria and weightings are set out in this notice and the published procurement documents, the council reserves the right to amend any element of the tender process, in accordance with Section 31 of the Procurement Act, 2023.
Before entering into a contract with the winning supplier, the council reserves the right to hold a pre-contract award meeting. The purpose of this meeting will be to ensure all parties clearly understand the expectations of the contract, before formally signing.
Documents
Documents to be provided after the tender notice
The Stage 1 conditions of participation document and supporting information will be made available via the council's eProcurement Portal, In-Tend. The Council's procurement portal is available here: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/esph/aspx/Home
Contracting authority
Wealden District Council
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PXRN-7814-TGXG
Vicarage Lane
Hailsham
BN27 2AX
United Kingdom
Region: UKJ22 - East Sussex CC
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government