Decision details

Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme projects, involving (1) ASHP replacement to Annex and heating upgrades at Macbeth and (2) ASHP replacement and heating upgrades at Brook Green.

Reasons for urgency:

H&F Council won a Salix grant to upgrade from gas heating systems to electric low carbon air source heat pumps in two properties – The Macbeth Centre Annex and Broadway Nursery. This grant accounts for two thirds of the total cost of upgrading the old gas system to an electric system alongside other building fabric improvement. In order to draw down on the grant, the Council will need to urgently procure a capital works contractor. The grant, worth roughly £465,330, must be utilized before March 2022, or otherwise will be lost and cannot be awarded again; an application for an extension was rejected by the funding partner. In addition, if the Council is unable to spend the grant within the above timeframe there is a risk that future applications for grant funding will not be considered, which could have a knock-on effect on delivery against the 2030 net-zero carbon target. Due to the short-notice nature of the grant, the impacts of COVID-19 on supply chains, and other logistical problems (discovery of asbestos etc.), there is an urgent need award the contract as soon as possible so work can begin before the grant expires.

To approve the procurement strategy at the estimated total value of £700,000.

This proposal is essential to H&F’s ambition to tackle the climate emergency, plus it enables the Council to take advantage of external funding to achieve this.

The recommendation is that the procurement strategy is agreed to undertake the works.

Several procurement routes/approaches have already been discounted due to the urgent nature of the project.

The proposed contract is a high value contract which, under the Council’s Contract Standing Orders, would normally require a full procurement or call-off from a framework agreement. However, due to conditions of the funding, there is no time to carry out a full tender although there is time for a short procurement over a 2-week period when 5 suppliers are invited to tender. The circumstances therefore fit the exception under the Contract Standing Orders and a direct award may be approved under CSO ‘22.3.2 provided there is a genuine urgency which could not have been foreseen’.