Decision details

HT&W Soft Landscape Service - Re-procurement and award contract(s) for rural swathe and visibility.

The current contract expires on 31 March 2017. Extension options have been considered by all parties but not considered viable in this instance.  Accordingly, in order to ensure a seamless service remains in place a new procurement is required.  Ongoing procurement enables market testing and ensures that the rates KCC pays of the work are competitive and reflective of the current market.

The commissioning of all work streams within the soft landscape services was considered, debated and agreed by the Strategic Commissioning Board on 4 July 2016.  A broad range of commissioning solutions was considered by the board.  The re-procurement of the Swathe and Visibility contract is in accordance with the board’s decision.  

Rural Swathe and visibility cutting is a safety critical service that keeps Kent’s roads moving and assists economic growth.

The annual spend is estimated at £300k per annum and will continue to be funded from the soft landscape budget.  The proposed contract length will be three years with an option to extend the contract for up to two years, one year at a time. Should KCC decide to run the contract for the full term, including extensions, total expenditure would be in the region of £1.5m

There are no significant legal constraints. Standard procurement risks would apply

Equality implications were considered during the analyse phase of the commissioning cycle.  No significant impacts were identified through the re-procurement of the services.

As Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport, I agree to the re-procurement and delegation to the Director of Highways, Transport and Waste the award of contracts for Rural Swathe and Visibility Cutting services, as set out in the report.