Exemption to Contract Procedure Rules
Creation of a Vision for the Regeneration of RAF Mildenhall
Portfolio Holder: James Waters Lead Officer: Jill Korwin
Summary and Reason for Recommendation:
On 18th March the MOD advised the Council that they will be making an internal decision in the Summer about the future of the RAF Mildenhall site. There is a tight window of opportunity for Forest Heath District Council to prepare a vision prospectus for the future of the site to encourage government to take a wider view of the site’s potential. The Council has completed the work to develop the specification for this visioning contract and that has shown the specialist nature of the support needed with a consultancy needing experience of MOD disposals and aviation use.
A procurement process will mean that a contractor would be appointed until mid June at the earliest and so would be unable to complete the Vision work before the Summer and so miss the opportunity to influence government decision making.
The Council has been awarded £230,000 funding from Cabinet Office for the OPE programme. The Cabinet Office have instructed the Council to use up to £100,000 of this money to develop a vision and prospectus for the future of the site. As part of OPE process, government appointed Cushman and Wakefield (C&W) to advise local authorities on their submissions and worked with West Suffolk Councils on our successful OPE submission. The Council then worked with C&W to developed the consultancy brief and they have demonstrated their ability to grasp the issues and the specialist nature of the development work we needed. Through developing the brief they have also gained an understanding of the issues meaning that the timescale for developing the Vision would be shorter than appointing a company that has no previous information on the site.
Time is imperative as the sooner we get this information to government the greater chance we have of influencing one of the most significant decisions for FHDC area.
The estimated total value of the exemption is £90,000 and was made under the following exemption criteria, as stated in Section 4.5 of the Contract Procedure Rules:
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Exemption Categories |
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The specialised nature of the goods, services to be supplied or the works to be executed means that only one suitable supplier has been identified or is available; and Unforeseen works where delay will adversely impact on the service delivery for the Council(s). |
Recommendation:
The Cabinet is requested to NOTE this exemption to the West Suffolk Contract Procedure Rules, as contained in the Constitution.
Decision:
Creation of a Vision for the Regeneration of RAF Mildenhall
RESOLVED:
That the exemption to the West Suffolk Contract Procedure Rules, as contained in the Constitution, be noted.
Minutes:
Creation of a Vision for the Regeneration of RAF Mildenhall
The Director explained that on 18 March 2016, the MOD had advised the Council that they would be making an internal decision in the Summer about the future of the RAF Mildenhall site. There was a tight window of opportunity for Forest Heath District Council to prepare a vision prospectus for the future of the site to encourage Government to take a wider view of the site’s potential. The Council had completed the work to develop the specification for this visioning contract and that had shown the specialist nature of the support needed with a consultancy needing experience of MOD disposals and aviation use.
A procurement process would mean that a contractor would not be appointed until mid June 2016 at the earliest and so would be unable to complete the Vision work before the Summer and so miss the opportunity to influence government decision making.
The Council had been awarded £230,000 funding from the Cabinet Office for the OPE programme. The Cabinet Office had instructed the Council to use up to £100,000 of this money to develop a vision and prospectus for the future of the site. As part of OPE process, the Government had appointed Cushman and Wakefield (C&W) to advise local authorities on their submissions and worked with West Suffolk Councils on our successful OPE submission. The Council then worked with C&W to develop the consultancy brief and they have demonstrated their ability to grasp the issues and the specialist nature of the development work needed. Through developing the brief they have also gained an understanding of the issues meaning that the timescale for developing the Vision would be shorter than appointing a company that had no previous information on the site.
Time was imperative as the sooner this information was provided to the Government, the greater chance of influencing one of the most significant decisions for the Forest Heath area.
The estimated total value of the exemption was £90,000 and was made under the following exemption criteria, as stated in Section 4.5 of the Contract Procedure Rules:
‘The specialised nature of the goods, services to be supplied or the works to be executed means that only one suitable supplier has been identified or is available; and
Unforeseen works where delay will adversely impact on the service delivery for the Council(s).’
With the vote being unanimous, it was
RESOLVED:
That the exemption to the West Suffolk Contract Procedure Rules, as contained in the Constitution, be noted.