Invitation to Tender - Charnwood SH… · procedures (for example, misconduct or discrimination issues) will ... 1.3 This invitation to tender does not constitute an offer and the

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Invitation to Tender

North West Leicestershire District Council

LEICESTER & LEICESTERSHIRE STRATEGIC HOUSING MARKET ASSESSMENT

Issue Date: 23 September 2013 Return Date: 14 October 2013 North West Leicestershire District Council Council Offices Coalville LE67 3FJ

Contact Ian Nelson Tel 01530 454677 Fax 01530 454506

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NORTH WEST LEICESTERSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL CONFIDENTIAL REPORTING (WHISTLEBLOWING) POLICY

Summary Guidance Note

1. INTRODUCTION

The Council is opposed to all forms of fraud, corruption and malpractice whether arising from within or outside the Council or from Contractors. If Employees, Members, Contractors or Suppliers have any concerns about suspected malpractice, the Council encourages them to raise the issue. The Management of the Council will take your concerns seriously and wishes to encourage you to report any suspected fraud or corruption.

This policy:

Provides the basis on which employees, Members, contractors or suppliers

can raise any such concerns they may have, and receive feedback on action taken

Allows employees, Members, contractors and suppliers to take matters further

if they are dissatisfied with the Council’s response Applies to all Employees of the Council Applies to all Members of the Council

Applies to Contractors working for the Council on Council premises

Applies to Suppliers and service providers under a contract with the Council

Applies to people working in partnership with the Council (e.g. volunteers)

1.1 Employees, Members, contractors, suppliers are often the first to realise that there may be something seriously wrong within the Council. However, they may not express their concerns because they feel that speaking up would be disloyal to their colleagues or the Council, or harm their chances of future business. They may also fear harassment or victimisation. In these circumstances it may be easier to ignore the concern rather than report what may just be a suspicion of malpractice.

1.2 The Council recognises that employees, Members, contractors and

suppliers who raise concerns are protected under the Public Interest

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Disclosure Act 1998 and / or this Policy and may be eligible to compensation if they subsequently suffer victimisation, discrimination or disadvantage.

This document provides a summary of the Councils ‘Confidential Reporting Policy’. A copy of the full policy is available on the Internet: http://www.nwleics.gov.uk/pages/corporate_policies.

2. AIMS AND SCOPE OF THIS POLICY 2.1 This policy aims to:

• encourage all to feel confident in raising concerns and to question and act upon your concerns

• provide avenues for all to raise those concerns and receive feedback on any action taken

• ensure that you receive a response to your concerns and that you are aware of how to pursue them if you are not satisfied

• reassure you that you will be protected from possible reprisals or victimisation if you have a reasonable belief that you have made any disclosure in good faith.

• provide an avenue for members of the public to raise concerns (2.2 of full Policy) which would not be considered under the council’s formal Complaints Procedure

3. SAFEGUARDS - Harassment or Victimisation 3.1 The Council recognises that the decision to report a concern can be a

difficult one to make. If what you are saying is true, you should have nothing to fear because you will be doing your duty to your employer, customer, and those for whom you are providing a service.

3.2 The Council will not tolerate any harassment or victimisation (including

informal pressures) and we will take appropriate action to protect you when you raise a concern in good faith.

4. CONFIDENTIALITY

4.1 All concerns will be treated in confidence and every effort will be made

not to reveal your identity if you so wish. At the appropriate time, however, you may need to come forward as a witness.

5. UNTRUE ALLEGATIONS

http://www.nwleics.gov.uk/pages/corporate_policies

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5.1 If you make an allegation in good faith, but it is not confirmed by the investigation, no action will be taken against you. If, however, you make an allegation frivolously, maliciously or for personal gain, disciplinary action may be taken against you.

6. HOW TO RAISE A CONCERN

6.1 Advice and guidance on how to pursue matters of concern may be

obtained from the Council’s nominated contact points who are:

• Chief Executive:

• Monitoring Officer:

• Deputy Section 151 Officer:

• Senior Auditor:

6.2 Concerns may be raised verbally or in writing, to any of the above named individuals. If raising your concern in writing, address to the named individual at the: Council Offices North West Leicestershire District Council Whitwick Road Coalville Leics LE67 3FJ Clearly mark the envelope “Confidential”

If you wish to make a written report you are invited to use the following format:

• the background and history of the concern (giving relevant dates); • the reason why you are particularly concerned about the situation.

7. HOW THE COUNCIL WILL RESPOND

7.1 In order to protect individuals and those accused of misdeeds or

mailto:[email protected]




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possible malpractice, initial enquiries will be made to decide whether an investigation is appropriate and, if so, what form it should take. The overriding principle which the Council will have in mind is the public interest. Concerns or allegations which fall within the scope of specific procedures (for example, misconduct or discrimination issues) will normally be referred for consideration under those procedures.

7.2 Where appropriate, the matters raised may:

• be investigated internally by the Council • be referred to the police • be referred to the external auditor • form the subject of an independent enquiry.

8. HOW THE MATTER CAN BE TAKEN FURTHER

8.1 This policy is intended to provide you with an avenue within the Council

to raise concerns. The Council hopes you will be satisfied with any action taken. If you are not, and if you feel it is right to take the matter outside the Council, the following are possible contact points:

• the Audit Commission (special telephone line – 0845 0522 646) • your trade union • your local Citizens Advice Bureau • relevant professional bodies or regulatory organisations

• a relevant voluntary organisation (Public Concern at Work – 020 7404 6609)

• the police

8.2 If you take the matter outside the Council, you should ensure that you do not disclose confidential information. Check with one of the Council’s nominated contact points about that. (See full policy, 6.1 above).

A/ASG July 2003 Reviewed Jan 2005 Reviewed Nov 2005 Revised Jan 2006 Revised Dec 2006 Reviewed Dec 2007 Revised March 2008 Reviewed May 2009 Revised July 2010

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Invitation to Tender for:

LEICESTER & LEICESTERSHIRE STRATGEIC HOUSING MARKET ASSESSMENT

Comprising 1. Introduction 2. Instructions to Tenderers 3. Specification 4. Conditions of Contract 5. Business Questionnaire 6. Form of Tender Date of Invitation to Tender: 23 September 2013 Tender return date: 14 October 2013, 12 noon

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Part One

Introduction


LEICESTER & LEICESTERSHIRE STRATGEIC HOUSING MARKET ASSESSMENT

September 2013

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1 Introduction 1.1 Quotations are invited for undertaking a Strategic Housing Market Assessment

(SHMA) for the Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area (HMA).

The objectives of the SHMA are:

To provide robust evidence as to the amount of new housing required to 2031 (and indicatively to 2036), including a breakdown by type, tenure and size, across the housing market area and for individual districts/boroughs which can then be used by the local authorities to seek to ensure that their Local Plans meet the full, objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing across the housing market area;

To provide evidence of the mix of different households likely to require housing to 2031/2036 in terms of age, household size and type and the implications for future dwelling requirements, across the housing market area and for individual districts/boroughs

1.2 The Assessment is commissioned jointly by the Leicester and Leicestershire Local

Planning Authorities (LLLPA). The LLLPA comprises the following Councils:

Blaby District Charnwood Borough Harborough District Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Leicester City Melton Borough North West Leicestershire District Oadby and Wigston Borough

1.3 All member authorities will be involved in overseeing the preparation of the joint

SHMA and a working group has been established to manage the process. For the purposes of this brief the commissioning bodies will be referred to as ‘the Partners’ and the ‘study area’ comprises all 8 local authority areas referred to above which is the Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area.

Detailed requirements are defined in the Specification at Part 3.

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Part Two

Instructions to Tenderers



September 2013

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2 Instructions to Tenderers

1 General Information and Instructions

1.1 Definitions Throughout this document the following definitions will apply:

“The Council” North West Leicestershire District Council 1.2 Compliance with Instructions: Tenders submitted shall be in accordance with and subject to the terms of these

instructions and other documents comprising the Invitation to Tender. Tenders not complying with any mandatory requirement (where the word

“shall” or “must” is used) will be rejected. Any queries about the tender documents or Tendering Certificate which may

affect the preparation of the tender shall be raised without delay in writing via the delta–ets system (more information about this is set out in paragraphs 4.3/4.4 below. If the Council considers a query may have a material effect on the tendering process, all tenderers will be notified without delay in writing.

1.3 This invitation to tender does not constitute an offer and the Council does not undertake to accept the lowest or any tender.

Tenderers shall bear their own costs of submitting a tender. The Council will not reimburse any tendering costs.

1.4 The Contact Officer for this procurement is: Ian Nelson (Planning Policy & Business Focus Team Manager)

Contact address: Council Offices

Coalville LEICS LE67 3FJ

2 Confidential Nature of Tender Documentation and Bids 2.1 Tenderers shall not discuss the bid they intend to make other than with

professional advisers or joint bidders who need to be consulted. Bids shall not be canvassed for acceptance or discussed with the media or any other tenderer or member or officer of the Council.

2.2 If a tenderer does not observe paragraph 2.1, the Council may reject the tender and decide not to invite the tenderer to tender for future work.


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3 Preparation of Bid 3.1 Tenderers may decline to bid, but if they have been sent an Invitation to Tender

they must alert the Contact Officer promptly of their intention not to bid. 3.2 If the Council considers that a cover price (i.e. a bid that is not intended to be

considered seriously) has been submitted, the Council may reject the tender and may decide not to invite the tenderer to tender for future work. The Office of Fair Trading encourages local authorities to look out for any evidence of price fixing arrangements.

3.3 No alteration or addition shall be made to the Form of Tender, pricing schedules or any part of the Invitation to Tender except where expressly permitted by the Council.

3.4 Tenders must not be qualified in any way and tenderers must not make any changes to the contract documents. Tenders must not be conditional or be accompanied by any statement that could be construed as being a qualification or variation to the contract documents and/or places the tenderer on a different footing from other tenderers. The Council will only accept compliant tenders for consideration. The Council’s decision on any such matter will be final.

3.5 Tenderers must obtain for themselves all information necessary for the preparation of their tender and satisfy themselves that the quality and standards specified by themselves or the Council are appropriate. Information supplied to tenderers by the Council’s staff or contained in the Council’s publications is supplied only for general guidance in the preparation of the tender. Tenderers must satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of any such information and no responsibility is accepted by the Council for any loss or damage of whatever kind and howsoever caused arising from the use by tenderers of such information.

3.6 Tenders and supporting documents must be completed in English and any contract subsequently entered into and its formation, interpretation and performance shall be subject to and in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

3.7 The Invitation to Tender includes in Part 4 the Council’s Contract Terms. 3.8 Tenders must be submitted exclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT). 3.9 Tenderers will be required to maintain Employers Liability insurance, Public

Liability insurance and Professional Indemnity insurance and tenders should include any and all such premiums. The minimum amount of financial cover for the Employers and Public Liability policies shall be £10million and for Professional Indemnity insurance shall be £2million and shall be maintained for the duration of the contract.

3.10 Tenderers will be automatically disqualified if canvassing for the Contract or if making any approach to any Councillor or Officer of the Council with a view to gaining more favourable consideration for their tender. The Council’s constitution will apply to this contract.

3.11 The Council reserves the right to make changes of a drafting nature to the contract documentation and any such changes shall be accepted by any tenderer without reservation. Should the Council require more substantial changes to the contract documentation, then the Council reserves the right to make such changes and will be entitled to evaluate the price of any such changes using submitted prices applied on a quantum merit basis. Should the tenderer not agree the revised price

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structure, they may withdraw notwithstanding these instructions.

4 Submission of Tender 4.1 Requirements for submission of information:

4.1.1 All submissions shall be made on the Form of Tender (Part 6) and be accompanied by the response to the Specification (Part 3). If these documents are not submitted, the bid will be rejected. Only information relating to the Tenderer should be submitted unless otherwise requested. Every item shall be priced in sterling and the submission totalled.

4.1.2 To enable evaluation of the tender, the tenderer must also submit the following documents: The Business Questionnaire (Part 5) and accompanying documentation The Pricing Schedule (6.2) Method Statements (6.3) Resource provision (6.4) Programme (6.5) Management and communication (6.6) The Tendering Certificate (6.7)

4.1.3 Tenderers shall complete and submit the above documentation via the BiP Vault system.

4.2 Tenders must be completed and submitted by the due date of 14 October 2013

12 noon Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will tenders be accepted which arrive after the due date and time for receipt. It is the tenderer’s responsibility to ensure arrival on time.

4.3 The information and documents for this tender will be accessible at the following website http://www.delta-ets.com. To be able to access these documents you will firstly need to register your company details and thereafter you will be issued with a USERNAME and PASSWORD. If you have already registered with Delta previously, please follow the link shown and click on the 'Delta-ets Home' tab instead. This will redirect you to the home page where you can log on using your existing username and password to collect the tender documents. 4.4 You must then log into Delta-ets and then click on the Vault tab, you will then

automatically view the tender title, click on this link and you will be taken to the tender documents. Please check that you are able to access these online ITT documents, if you are experiencing problems, then please contact the Delta helpdesk @ [email protected] or call 0845 270 7050 for further assistance.

4.5 If you have registered and have forgotten your Username and Password, please click on the forgotten password link on the Delta-ets homepage. 4.6 Please ensure that you allow yourself plenty of time when responding to this

invitation prior to the closing date and time. If you are uploading multiple documents you will have to individually load one document at a time or you can opt to zip all the documents in an application like WinZip or WinRar.

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4.7 Please keep this USERNAME and PASSWORD secure, and do not pass it to any third parties. 4.8 Tenders to be uploaded to BIP Delta-ets Vault by no later than 14 October

2013 12 noon 4.9 If there appears to be an error in a submission or supporting information the

Tenderer will be invited to confirm or withdraw its bid. Where the error relates to the tender total as calculated from tendered rates and variable quantities, the bid will be regarded as the tender total bid and the rate adjusted accordingly. The tenderer will be invited to confirm or withdraw the bid and resulting rate. 4.10 The Form of Tender shall be submitted by the organisation which it is

proposed will enter into a formal contract with the Council if awarded the contract. It shall be signed: 4.4.1 where the tenderer is a partnership, by two (2) duly authorised partners; 4.4.2 where the tenderer is a company, by two (2) directors or by a director and

the secretary of the company, such persons being duly authorised for that purpose;

4.4.3 where the tenderer is a sole trader, by the sole trader themselves; 4.4.4 where the tenderer is another legal form, please contact the Contact Officer

for further details.

5 Selection Criteria 5.1 The Business Questionnaire at Section 5 is used to assess the suitability of

tenderers in terms of: Technical and professional ability Compliance with legislation Financial standing

5.2 Details of the criteria and weightings used to score responses to the business questionnaire are included on pages 90/91 for your information.

6 Award Criteria 6.1 Any tender that is accepted will be awarded to the most economically

advantageous tender in accordance with the following award criteria in descending order of importance Quality 60% Price 40%

This part of the contract documents forms the basis on which tenders and tenderers will be assessed in respect of their ability to provide the Leicester & Leicestershire Strategic housing Market Assessment required on the terms specified.

6.2 Tenderers should ensure that their submissions are written in plain English without reference to technical jargon or with explanation where used; and is generally intelligible to a non-legal and non-technical audience.

6.3 Financial Provision

Tenderers will make financial allowance for the provision of all monitoring data, its

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collation, generation and submission to the Council, attendance at all relevant Council Meetings, Officer Meetings and meetings with local client representatives and customers as required for the provision of service.

6.3.1 Rates provided shall be fully inclusive of all expenses and disbursements

including telephone, fax, electronic information, generation and transmission, postage, stationery, duplicating, typing, printing and any costs associated with non-professional staff.

6.3.2 Service providers not complying with any of the above requirements may be

excluded from further consideration in the tender evaluation process, and the Council’s decision on this issue will be notified to the tenderers concerned.

6.4 Detailed Evaluation Criteria

The Council believes that the control of services and service delivery characteristics can only be achieved by close control of the process that delivers the service.

6.4.1 Process performance management, control and continual redress

improvement are therefore essential to achieve and maintain quality service. The Council intends to encourage innovative thought from the successful contractor. Whilst remedial action is sometimes possible during service delivery, it is not possible to rely on arms-length final inspection process to ensure service quality to our customers. A bad service experience cannot be repaired on a promise of non-reoccurrence in the future. Customer/stakeholder assessment of any non-conformity will therefore become a vital part of the process.

6.4.2 The Council’s customers are the focal point of its quality systems. We

require our services to be tailored to the different local needs and customer satisfaction will only be assured where there is a definable quality process. Therefore the contractor will be responsible for establishing and maintaining a policy of service, quality and customer satisfaction.

6.4.3 The criteria listed against each element reflect the factors that will be

assessed in evaluating the tenders and awarding marks.

6.5 Financial Evaluation

The proposed cost of the study set out in the pricing schedule at 6.2 (page 92) will be used to evaluate each bid received. The financial evaluation will be carried out using the CIPFA Code of Practice. The procedure is to:

a. Eliminate any tender which fails to meet any minimum criteria b. Eliminate any tender which is found to be too low to be credible (after

making enquiries described in sub-paragraph 9.11a of the Code of Practice) or too high to be acceptable, however many points it scores in all other respects.

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c. For the remaining tenders, calculate the mean (arithmetic average) price for

the price. d. Give half the points available for price (i.e. of the 120 marks for price then

this would be 60 marks) for this mean price. e. For prices below the mean add 2% of the total price points (e.g. 2.4 points

of the total of 120) for each 1% of the tender price below the mean for net prices.

f. For prices above the mean deduct 2.4 points respectively for each 1% of

the price above the mean.

The amounts of tenders considered in this evaluation will be the net tender figure submitted forming 40% of the award.

6.6 Qualitative Evaluation

The qualitative evaluation of submissions will assess: The proposed methodology Resource provision and programme for the study and Performance Management and communication of the study

The evaluation model will measure each of these and be appropriately weighted as illustrated in the table below: Component Maximum

Score per Component

Weighting Maximum Points Available

TECHNICAL MERIT Understanding of project brief 5 2 10 Methodology 5 5 25 Sensitivities 5 3 15 Total 50 STAFF AND RESOURCE Skills and experience of project team 5 5 25 Balance of skills and time allocation 5 4 20 Contingency arrangements 5 3 15 Total 60 PROGRAMME Programme for delivery 5 4 20 Total 20 MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION Project management structure 5 3 15 Working with the Council’s 5 2 10 Project lead 5 2 10 Monitoring arrangements 5 3 15 Total 50 Total points 180

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Further information regarding the criteria can be found in sections 6.3 to 6.6 (pages 93 to 96). The maximum points attributable to any one submission in the quality evaluation model are 180.

The qualitative assessment will form 60% of the award. In awarding points for each of the criteria the following scoring methodology will be applied:

Assessment Score

Very Poor – either no answer is provided or the answer completely fails to demonstrate that any of the Council’s key requirements in the area being measured will be delivered

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Poor – provides only limited assurance that the Council’s requirements in the area being measured will be delivered

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Barely Adequate – demonstrates how some of the Council’s requirements in the area being measured will be delivered so as to provide a basic service that will be reasonably responsive to the needs of residents, the Council and other stakeholders

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Satisfactory – demonstrates how most of the Council’s requirements in the area being measured will be delivered so as to provide an acceptable service that will mostly be responsive to the needs of residents, the Council and other stakeholders

3

Good - demonstrates how all of the Council’s requirements in the area being measured will be delivered so as to provide a good service that will be responsive to the needs of residents, the Council and other stakeholders

4

Very Good - demonstrates clearly how all of the Council’s requirements in the area being measured will be fully delivered so as to deliver an excellent service that will be highly responsive to the needs of residents, the Council and other stakeholders

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Any submission which fails to score at least 3 points (before weighting is applied) in one of the categories would automatically fail.

7 Award Process 7.1 The Council expects to decide award of contract within 90 days of the closing date

for submission of tenders (see paragraph 4.2). Bids shall remain open for acceptance for a minimum of 90 days.

7.2 The Council may, if necessary, extend the 90-day period for completing the award process.

7.3 The Councils reserve the right as part of the tender evaluation process to invite tenderers to an interview in order to clarify any matters as required.

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7.4 Tenderers will be notified simultaneously and as soon as possible of any decision made by the Council during the tender process, including award. When the Council has evaluated the bids, it will notify all tenderers about the intended award.

7.5 The Council generally debriefs all those who tendered about the characteristics and relative advantages of the leading bidder. Such details may also be stated in any published contract award notice.

7.6 Tenders shall be submitted on the basis that the offer to carry out the service shall remain in force for a minimum period of 90 days from the closing date for the submission of tenders specified above (4.2). If the Council has not accepted the tender within this period, the tender shall remain in force without variation but may be withdrawn at any time thereafter, giving 7 days notice to the Council. Such notice must be delivered at the above address at the tenderers own risk.

7.7 Acceptance of the tender by the Council shall be in writing and shall be communicated to the tenderer. Upon such acceptance the Contract shall thereby be constituted and become binding on both parties, notwithstanding that the Contractor shall execute a formal contract in accordance with 7.9 and 7.10 below.

7.8 The tenderer must be prepared to commence carrying out the Service on 12 November 2013.

7.9 In submitting a tender, the tenderer undertakes that in the event of their tender being accepted by the Council they shall, within 14 days of being requested to do so by the Council, execute a formal contract consisting of the contract documents.

7.10 Failure by the tenderer to execute a formal contract should they be awarded the contract within the time specified above shall render the contract voidable at the option of the Council.

8 Tenderer’s Warranties In submitting its tender, the tenderer warrants, represents and undertakes to the

Council that: 8.1 All information, representations and other matters of fact communicated (whether

in writing or otherwise) to the Council by the tenderer, its staff or agents, in connection with or arising out of the tender are true, complete and accurate in all respects, both as at the date communicated and as at the date of tender submission.

8.2 It has made its own investigations and research and has satisfied itself in respect of all matters (whether actual or contingent) relating to the tender and that it has not submitted the tender and will not be entering into the contract (if the same be awarded to the tenderer by the Council) in reliance upon any information, representation or assumption which may have been made by or on behalf of the Council.

8.3 It has full power and authority to enter into the contract and perform the obligations specified in the Contract Documents and will, if requested, produce evidence of such to the Council.

8.4 It is of sound financial standing and has and will have sufficient working capital, skilled staff, equipment and other resources available to it to perform the obligations specified in the Contract Documents.

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Part Three

Specification



September 2013

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3 Specification


1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 In 2008, a comprehensive Strategic Housing Market Assessment was

commissioned jointly for the Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area (The Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic housing Market Assessment, B Line, 2008). Whilst its main focus was house prices and affordability, the study considered the housing needs of particular groups such as older people, young people and students. For the most part the SHMA took the emerging RSS housing targets as the basis for its calculations.

1.2. In November 2010, a further report was released which built on the work of the 2008 SHMA and provided a very focused update of the affordable housing requirement, together with the methodology for future updates. Several gaps were identified in the data available and suggestions made on addressing these. The report was accompanied by two housing market models for each participant local authority, one which determined housing need (in terms of the number of units of affordable housing required) and one which assessed the optimum housing market mix. The report outlined the various datasets available to Strategic Housing departments in monitoring housing market trends, along with their limitations and sources. There was a detailed look at the role of Shared Ownership and the Intermediate Housing market, and how this relates to housing need. Overall housing requirements across the HMA were not addressed.

1.3 Since these reports were carried out, the National Planning Policy Framework (the

Framework) has been introduced. This sets out clearly that in order ‘to boost

significantly the supply of housing, local planning authorities should use their

evidence base to ensure that their Local Plan meets the full, objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing in the housing market area’ (para 47) unless the adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits when assessed against national planning policies as a whole. The starting point is that local plans should meet the full requirements for market and affordable housing in their housing market area.

1.4 In order to have a clear understanding of housing needs in their area, paragraph

159 of the Framework states that local authorities should prepare a SHMA to assess their full housing needs, including working with neighbouring authorities where housing market areas cross administrative boundaries. It sets out that the SHMA should identify the scale and mix of housing and the range of tenures that the local population is likely to need over the plan period which:

Meets household and population projections, taking account of migration and demographic change;

Addresses the need for all types of housing, including affordable housing and the needs of different groups in the community (such as families with

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children, older people, people with disabilities, service families and people wishing to buy their own homes); and

Caters for housing demand and the scale of housing supply necessary to meet this demand.

1.5 Given that the existing SHMA is based on data that pre-dates 2007/2008 and in light of the changes to the policy context set by the Framework and the revocation of the Regional Strategy in April 2013, the Partners have agreed that an up to date SHMA is needed to inform the preparation of future planning and housing policy.

1.6 This brief sets out the detailed requirements for the SHMA, the primary objective

of which is to deliver a joint SHMA that is fully compliant with the Framework. In addition, the SHMA should reflect emerging guidance (draft National Planning Practice Guidance) and any subsequent final version of the guidance (if published in time to be taken into account). The SHMA must provide a suitable and robust evidence base that will inform the preparation of each local authority’s planning and housing policies. The detailed outputs and requirements of the SHMA are set out in Sections 3 and 4 of this section of the tender document.

1.7 It is not the role of the SHMA to formally set the overall housing requirement target

or the affordable housing requirement. It will be for the local planning authorities in the HMA to then agree on distribution of housing having regard to the findings of the SHMA and other considerations.

2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 2.1 Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area

2.1.1 Leicestershire comprises a number of market towns and many rural villages with the city of Leicester at the centre. The study area borders Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to the north, Northamptonshire to the south, Staffordshire to the north west, Warwickshire to the south-west and Rutland and Lincolnshire to the east. It is made up of 7 non-unitary district authorities in the area covered by Leicestershire County Council, plus the unitary Leicester City Council. These 8 local authorities make up the Partners commissioning this study. The local authorities have a strong history of collaborative working and the production of joint studies associated with their evidence base.

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Map 1: Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area Local Authorities

2.1.2 According to the 2011 Census the study area has a population of approximately

980,328. This represents an increase of 90,860 or 10.2% since 2001. Leicester City has seen its population grow by almost 49,918 (18%) over that period whilst the population of the rest of Leicestershire grew by 40,911 (7%). The projected population growth over the next 20 years varies depending on which ONS data set it referenced (see Table 1).

Table 1: Population Projections for the Study Area (Leicester and Leicestershire)

Year

Projection

Population Population change

2011

2021

2031

% increase 2011-2021

% increase 2011-2031

2008 based SNPP*

970,900

1,052,700

1,132,600

8%

17%

2010 based SNPP

964,000

1,064,000

1,156,000

10%

20%

2011 based SNPP (Interim)

981,000

1,056,000

-

8%

-

Source: ONS * Subnational Population Projections

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2.1.3 The 2011-based household interim projections, published in April by DCLG,

estimate that by 2021 there will be 426,000 households in the study area. Leicester City was identified as one of the local authorities with the greatest decrease in households compared to the 2008 based projections. Table 2 shows the projected number of households at 2021 by local authority and the increase this represents on the 2011 base household figure.

Table 2: Household Projections, 2011-2021 by Local Authority for the Study Area

Local Authority

Number of Households Change 2011 2021 % Increase

2011-2021 Leicester 123,000 130,000 6% Blaby 39,000 43,000 10% Charnwood 67,000 75,000 12% Harborough 35,000 39,000 11% Hinckley and Bosworth 45,000 49,000 9% Melton 22,000 24,000 9% NW Leicestershire 39,000 42,000 8% Oadby and Wigston 21,000 23,000 10% Study Area 391,000 426,000 7%

Source: DCLG 2011 Based Household Interim Projections Figures may not add up due to rounding

2.1.4 Clearly an understanding of the needs of the housing market area is required in order to plan the delivery of sufficient dwellings to meet that need and to deliver the correct balance of housing type and mix.

2.2 Background information and studies 2.2.1 In 2011, in light of the Government’s stated intention to abolish regional spatial

strategies and the housing targets within them and allow individual local authorities to determine their own housing requirements, the Partner authorities commissioned a housing requirements study to look at the scale of housing needed in the HMA to 2031. This aims of the project were to:

aid the understanding of the assumptions that were used to formulate the overall HMA housing requirement and district apportionments set out in the RSS at each stage of its production;

identify and understand the evidence needed to formulate judgements on future housing requirements, taking into account population trends, household structure/housing occupation and local housing market and

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economic circumstances; and develop a common methodology to ensure a fair, truly local assessment of

housing requirements across the HMA to 2031 through the development of a number of different scenarios.

2.2.2 The resulting Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Requirements Project Final Report (GL Hearn, September 2011) provided a quantitative assessment of housing need. Since its publication new relevant data has emerged including the 2011 Census, ONS population projections and DCLG household projections which need to be taken into account. Although the 2011 Study looked at the possible scale of housing requirement across the HMA to 2031 through the development of a number of scenarios, it did not fulfil the role of a SHMA.

2.2.3 Some local authorities have also commissioned their own housing requirements work to feed into their core strategy/local plan preparation.

2.2.4 It has become increasingly obvious over the past few months that Inspectors are taking a hard line on the need for an up to date SHMA and strong evidence of joint working on housing distribution under the Duty to Cooperate. A number of examination processes into Core Strategies have been suspended because authorities did not present up to date SHMAs, prepared under the duty to co-operate, as part of their evidence base. In light of this the LLLPAs have recognised the urgent need for an up to date SHMA which meets the requirements of the Framework and reflects the most up to date guidance and lessons learnt from recent core strategy/local plan examinations.

2.3 Progress on plan preparation in the HMA 2.3.1 Each authority is at a slightly different stage in plan preparation and reviewing its

planned housing figures as set out in Table 3. As this situation is not likely to change in the near future, the Partners are committed to preparing a comprehensive SHMA as key evidence document in the plan making process.

Table 3: Plan Preparation by Local Authority

Leicester Draft Local Plan to be issued April 2014. Oadby and Wigston Core Strategy adopted 2010.

No published timetable to review. Charnwood Local Plan Core Strategy to be submitted December 2013. Blaby Core Strategy adopted 2013.

No published timetable to review. Harborough Draft Local Plan to be issued mid 2014. Melton Draft Local Plan to be issued 2015 North West Leicestershire Draft Local Plan issued and submitted. Hinckley and Bosworth Core Strategy adopted 2009.

No published timetable to review.

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3 THE STUDY BRIEF 3.1 Overview of evidence required 3.1.1 The comprehensive joint SHMA is required for the period 2011-2031 (and

indicatively to 2036) to provide: A detailed understanding of the key drivers underpinning the housing market in

Leicester and Leicestershire and the identification of current dynamics of the housing market and interactions between and within areas both within the HMA and with adjoining HMAs ;

An update of the current population characteristics of the HMA in terms of demographics and socio-economic profiles;

The scale of future market and affordable housing need across the HMA, the Leicester Principal Urban Area (PUA) and at individual authority level;

Detail on the mix of housing needed in terms of size, type and needs of specific groups; and

An evidence base in relation to affordable housing outlining the need for different affordable tenures and property type.

3.2 Study stages 3.2.1 Given the urgent need for local authorities to discuss meeting housing need

across the HMA as a whole as part of the process for setting their own objectively assessed housing requirement, it is intended to split the SHMA into 2 main stages as follows: Stage1: Housing Requirements Technical Paper. The first stage will present

the findings in relation to housing market dynamics and linkages and set out the full objectively assessed housing requirements for both market and affordable housing at HMA, PUA and individual local authority area. This Stage 1 paper will eventually form part of the full SHMA and its development will support early cooperation between the local authorities, form the basis on which to develop agreement on the distribution of housing across the HMA under the duty to co-operate and allow on-going work on Local Plan preparation to proceed. The consultant will be expected to report back after Stage 1A (see Table 3) to allow for Project Group feedback and stakeholder engagement to add validity to the methodology and approach.

Stage 2: The SHMA Report (Draft Version and Final Version with Executive Summary). A draft version of the full SHMA will be required setting out the methodology and the initial results as well as incorporating the Stage 1 Paper. This will be submitted to the Project Group. Further stakeholder workshop may be held at this stage so as to allow for comments to feed into the final version. Comments from the commissioning authorities via the Project Group will be fed back to the consultant for incorporation into final version The final version of the SHMA will be made available to the Project Group following quality assurance testing by the consultants, having taken on board any amendments and corrections needed. The final report, accompanied by an Executive Summary should describe the methodology and results obtained and set out recommendations relating to the most appropriate housing requirement figures in view of the scenarios considered.

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3.2.2 The SHMA should meet the outputs set out in Table 4 in order to comply with the Framework’s requirements and the emerging or final Practice Guidance. Analysis should be provided for the study area as a whole and for each individual local authority.

3.2.3 As explained above, in order for the findings in relation to overall market and affordable housing requirements at HMA, PUA and local authority level to feed into the plan making process in a timely way, the SHMA is to be received in 2 specific stages. Table 4 indicates how the overall SHMA requirements should be split between the two-stage process. Table 4: SHMA Requirements by Stage

Stage 1: Requirements to be addressed in Housing Requirements Technical Paper (stand alone document) Stage 1A: Context, Key Drivers and Methodology 1 Analysis of the planning policy context at the national and local levels and a

review of other key national policies, strategies and initiatives (e.g. current Welfare Reform (including housing benefit/local housing allowance changes) and the reinvigoration of the Right to Buy etc). This is to put the SHMA findings in a wider policy context and to assess the potential impact of policy changes on future housing requirements.

2 Provide analysis of the key drivers underpinning the housing market(s), including: past and current housing market trends; the balance between supply and demand in different housing sectors; price / affordability; and deprivation. Establish appropriate market signals/ market indicators such as land prices, house prices, rents, rates of development and overcrowding. This analysis should include commentary regarding the recent periods of recession and the on going economic issues relating to both public and private housing finance and constrained demand. For the affordable housing element, this should also reflect the changes in policy such as welfare reform, which will affect the way the affordable housing market operates.

3 Statement of Methodology showing how it is proposed to arrive at the scale and mix of market and affordable housing. This element should be set out to enable stakeholder consultation, including the involvement of LLEP with regard to economic/employment trends.

Stage 1B: Development of Assumptions and Projections of Dwelling requirements 4 Identify and analyse the dynamics and strength of housing market linkages

experienced between and within the authorities within the study area, having regard to the analysis highlighted in point 2, migration trends and travel to work patterns. This should provide commentary on the key housing market characteristics and how they operate throughout the study area. It should reference areas which border the HMA or influence it, and how this impacts upon the HMA as a whole or in part. It should also take into account the possible impact of the countywide allocations policy on movement.

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5 Examine current population characteristics in terms of demographics and socio-economic profiles across the Housing Market Area.

6 Examine the current housing characteristics in terms of size, type, condition, price and tenure across the Housing Market Area. This should highlight areas of differential demand, any evidence of under occupation or overcrowding and examine the contribution that could be made to meeting existing housing needs by the more effective use of the current housing stock.

7 Estimate the current number of households in housing need and any current ‘backlog’ in terms of existing under-provision in the affordable housing sector and future affordable housing need by LPA and HMA.

8 Project the total future number of households, broken down by age (by 5 year cohorts) and type (where possible) by HMA, PUA and LPA. This should include an estimate of future households that will require affordable and market housing over the whole plan period. Assumptions made in creating these projections need to be clear and agreed with the partners.

9 Project the scale of market and affordable housing likely to be required over the plan period by HMA, PUA and LPA. This should, as a starting point, use the most appropriate ONS population projections and provide a range of scenarios based on robust assumptions. This should draw links between market and affordable housing and provide an understanding of how the affordable housing need fits in with the overall need for housing. Any assumptions must be fully explained and justified.

10 In association with point 9, provide a robust commentary to explain how ‘households’ are converted to ‘dwelling requirements’.

11 Provide an assessment of the linkages between demographic profiles, housing need and demand and economic factors. In particular, understand how past economic performance and economic led growth/aspirations impact on housing targets for the study area.

12 Provide a recommendation as to the most appropriate scenario and the resulting need for market and affordable housing over the period to 2031 and an indicative figure for 2036. Ensure that the recommended level of housing need reflects appropriate market signals.

Stage 2: Additional Requirements to be addressed in Draft/Final SHMA (incorporating Housing Requirements Technical Paper) 13 In relation to affordable housing project the range and proportion of tenures

that are likely to be required over the plan period. This should be broken down by LPA by the need for social rent, affordable rent and intermediate products (including shared ownership) having regard to costs and incomes, and the role that affordable rent plays in meeting the needs of people on the housing waiting list. The need for low cost or “below cost” market housing should also be assessed taking into account variations in house prices within each LPA

14 In relation to both market and affordable housing requirements, factoring in current housing stock, project the range and proportion of housing types and sizes required to satisfy housing need and demand. This should have regard to single person households, family housing and executive /

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aspirational housing, and the need to meet the requirements of downsizing households either as a result of older empty nesters or welfare reform. It should also assess the requirement for entry level market housing and the role it can play in meeting need, particularly in rural / high house price areas.

15 Provide commentary and analysis on the roles the self-build housing market and the private rented sector can make to meeting housing need and demand.

16 Provide an estimate of the particular housing requirements associated with specific household groups. This should include: single-people, couples, families with children, older people, black and minority ethnic groups, people with disabilities (including learning disabilities), singles under 35 years on benefits, young people including students and first time buyers. G&T should be referred to but with recognition that needs of the group are addressed through the GTAA.

17 With regard to the above point, link the needs of specific household groups to the overall housing requirements, in order to provide an understanding of how different types of housing provision can contribute towards meeting these specific needs. This should include affordable and market retirement villages, extra care housing, supported housing, single level living, rural housing (exception sites and cross-subsidy rural housing), HMOs and student accommodation. In addition realistic potential of empty homes strategies and potential future conversions (such as office to residential) should be considered

3.3 Methodology 3.3.1 The consultants are required to advise the partners on the most appropriate

methods to be used for all aspects of this study. The consultants are required to demonstrate clearly how they will produce the outcomes of the brief and respond to the requirements of the Framework and demonstrate how their methodology meets the National Planning Practice Guidance. The methodology needs to be robust and meet the key requirements set out in emerging (or final) guidance so that the assessment can stand up to scrutiny at public examination.

3.3.2 It will be for the consultants to identify the most appropriate scenarios based on up

to date data and robust evidence and to agree them with the Project Group. A broad indication of the types and number of scenarios which may be needed should be set out in the quote. In line with emerging guidance the number of scenarios should be kept to a minimum and only those that that could reasonably be expected to occur should be considered. Selected scenarios will need to be justified and explained fully, with any assumptions clearly identified, explained and justified in the Stage 1 Technical Paper.

3.3.3 Liaison with officers of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership will

be necessary to agree appropriate economic scenarios relevant to Leicester and Leicestershire and to determine which form the best basis for housing forecasts.

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3.3.4 In line with the emerging National Planning Practice Guidance, DCLG’s household projections should provide the starting point of estimate of overall housing need. Beyond this, it will be for the consultants to select the most appropriate data to ensure that the outcomes are achieved on time and within an appropriate budget. The use of secondary data sources is the preferred approach and the consultants should state clearly in the quote the range of information needed, how it is to be collected and its sources. The quote should however highlight any limitations of such data, any known gaps in the information available and any assumptions that are to be made.

3.3.5 Work on examining the SHMA policy context, both national and local, and the

analysis of key drivers underpinning the housing market (Stage 1A) should be done at an early stage alongside development of the methodology. This will form the basis of early stakeholder engagement and feedback under the Duty to Cooperate, adding validity to the methodology and approach. The consultant will then proceed with Stage 1B work and produce a technical report, which in addition to highlighting the housing market linkages, specifically outlines the total housing requirements for both market and affordable housing over the period 2011-2031. This will be presented for the HMA as a whole, the Leicester PUA and for each local authority, having regard to scenario and sensitivity testing.

3.3.6 The report should only include work that will form part of the final SHMA but its

early presentation will assist with local plan preparation and form the basis for work in relation to the distribution of housing across the HMA under the Duty to Cooperate. Given its role, any assumptions, judgements and findings should be fully justified and presented in an open, transparent and logical manner to aid readability. However, a full technical explanation of the methods employed, including any limitations noted, should be included.

3.3.7 The quote should specify what assistance will be required from the Project Group,

bearing in mind this should be kept to a minimum. The consultants should specify what data and information they expect the Project Group to provide within the quote. Any gaps in the evidence base should be identified in the early stage of the assessment and the consultant will be required to provide a statement as to how the gaps will be overcome.

3.3.8 When drawing conclusions the consultants should provide appropriate priorities,

actions and recommendations for the HMA as a whole and in relation to how individual local authorities should progress.

3.4 Reporting 3.4.1 As set out earlier, the Project Group wish to receive the reports in 2 stages:

Stage 1 –Housing Requirements Technical Paper. This paper will contain an overview of housing market dynamics and linkages and the full objectively assessed housing requirements for both market and affordable housing, set out for the HMA, PUA and individual local authorities. It will set out and explain the selected scenarios along with any assumptions made. It will only contain data that

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will form part of the final SHMA document. It will support early cooperation between local authorities regarding the distribution of the housing requirement and allow work to progress on the development of Local Plans. The report should be structured in such a way as to allow individual local authorities to use it as appropriate. A draft will be provided for the Project Group for comment and feedback prior to the consultants attending a Project Group meeting. The final document will take on board Project Group feedback. Stage 2 (incorporating Stage 1) – The SHMA Report. Initially this will be presented in draft form to the Project Group for comment. It will set out the full methodology and results obtained from both Stages 1 and 2. As well as incorporating the Stage 1 work, it will include findings in relation to the mix of housing and range of tenures needed for both market and affordable housing and examine the needs of specific household groups. The draft study will not be made publicly available. The consultants will be expected to attend a Project Group meeting for feedback. The consultants will amend the draft report in light of comments received and produce the final SHMA Report. As part of the final report, the consultants will produce a separate executive summary of the study and a methodology for updating the study. It should contain recommendations setting out the most appropriate housing requirement figure in view of the scenarios considered. It will be for the HMA local authorities to decide on policy matters relating to the findings of the SHMA and taking into account other considerations.

3.4.2 The consultants will be required to provide the Project Group with 11 hard copies of the final report and executive summary and 1 electronic version once it has been signed off by all the commissioning authorities. The Stage 1 Report and the draft version of the SHMA Report are to be provided in electronic format.

3.4.3 The consultants will be required to attend two Project Group meetings, one to

discuss and receive feedback on the draft Stage 1 technical Paper and the other to discuss and receive feedback on the draft SHMA at the end of Stage 2. However, the quote should itemise the cost of attending additional meetings, including to individual local authorities, should these prove necessary.

3.5 TIMETABLE 3.5.1 A draft timetable setting out key stages in the commissioning and development of

the SHMA is attached at Appendix 1. It should be noted that at this stage the timetable is indicative only and may be subject to change.

3.5.2 As part of the tender submission the consultants are expected to provide a

detailed timetable mapping out the proposed development of the work. 3.5.3 The inception meeting will be essential in assisting with timetabling and finalising

the exact nature, requirements and methodology of the SHMA.

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3.6 Working arrangements for the study 3.6.1 Whilst the consultants will be expected to work closely with the Project Group, a

single point of contact has been established to ensure that all communications are recorded and, where necessary, action is taken. The contact details for the Lead Officer are set out below along with those for the Project Sponsor and the Project Manager.

3.6.2 The consultants through an identified Project Manager will keep the Lead Officer

informed at all stages of the project and should provide a regular flow of information on the progress of the work against the agreed timetable, any issues or difficulties arising and any emerging risks to timely delivery of the study. Should it be necessary for the consultants to contact the officers of individual local authorities specifically, the Lead Officer should be copied in.

3.6.3 In addition to the above, the management of the contract will be the responsibility of North West Leicestershire as the procurement lead. The contact details are:

3.7 Data 3.7.1 All data collected and analysed for the purposes of the SHMA will be the shared

property of the Councils involved. The consultant will provide the Councils with all raw data collected to enable maximum use of the data following completion of the

LEAD OFFICER: Fabian D’Costa (Leicester City Council) Position: Planning Policy Team Leader

PROJECT MANAGER: Stephen Pointer (Harborough District Council)

Position: Strategic Housing and Planning Manager

PROJECT SPONSOR: Eileen Mallon (Charnwood Borough Council)

Position: Strategic Director

AUTHORISED OFFICER: Ian Nelson (North West Leicestershire District Council) Position: Planning Policy and Business Focus Team Manager




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study. To ensure confidentiality is maintained, data where necessary should be suitable anonymised so that any authority will not be able to identify any individual from the responses. The raw data should be compatible with MS Excel and standard GIS software.

3.7.2 The intellectual property rights in the subsequent report(s) shall be the joint property of the Councils.

3.8 Further work 3.8.1 It should be noted that this contract will include a provision to re-appoint the

successful consultants to update the SHMA following the future publication of relevant data from the 2011 Census or other relevant data should this be considered necessary. This will be at the discretion of the commissioning authorities.

4. STUDY OUTPUTS 4.1 The following outputs are required:

An Inception Meeting to agree in more detail the scope and method of the SHMA

and to clarify points from both sides. Minutes of the meeting will be provided by the Project Group;

Agreement with regard to the evidence documents required by {date to be agreed with consultants}. An initial list of evidence documents for use by the consultants is at Appendix 2;

Initial Project Group and stakeholder engagement to enable comment on project context, market drivers and proposed methodology;

Delivery of a draft Stage 1 housing Requirements Technical Paper and attendance by appointed consultants at Project Group for feedback on the draft;

Delivery of Stage 1 Housing Requirements Technical Paper as a standalone report;

Delivery of Draft SHMA Report for comment and attendance by the appointed consultants at Project Group for feedback on the draft;

Delivery of final SHMA Report (incorporating Stage 1 Paper) and accompanying Executive Summary;

5. PAYMENT DETAILS 5.1 Costs and payments 5.1.1 Consultants are required to submit a fixed price quote. The quote must provide an

itemised breakdown for each of the elements of the project and include provision for attendance at an inception meeting and two Project Group meetings, stakeholder engagement (as required), data costs (if any) and production of relevant materials.

5.1.2 The following table is a payment breakdown in relation to the SHMA

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% of total cost

Trigger for submission of invoice

Twenty per cent (25%)

Satisfactory completion of Stage 1 Housing Requirements Technical Paper (final version)

Fifty per cent (50%) Satisfactory completion of draft SHMA report Twenty per cent (20%) Satisfactory completion of final SHMA report and

Exec Summary Five per cent (5%) Satisfactory handover of relevant data

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APPENDIX 1 – INDICATIVE TIMETABLE

Issue of Brief 23 September 2013 Receipt of tenders Noon on 14 October 2013 Evaluation and clarification of tenders 14 October onwards Agree preferred supplier 28 October 2013 Notify tenderers of results 29 October 2013 Start of contract 12 November 2013 Inception meeting w/b 11 November 2013 Stage 1 Report –draft version to local authorities 24 January 2014 Stage 1 Report – final version to local authorities 28 February 2014 Stage 2 Report - draft version to local authorities 31 March 2014 Stage 2 Report – final version to local authorities 30 April 2014

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APPENDIX 2 – LIST OF EVIDENCE DOCUMENTS

The Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic housing Market Assessment ( B Line, 2008) http://www.blinehousing.info/LeicSHMA/Leicester_SHMA.htm SHMA Update Report: Leicester & Leicestershire SHMA Managing and Updating of Data (B Line, 2010) http://www.lsr-online.org/reports/leicester_and_leicestershire_shma_managing_and_updating_of_data Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Requirements Project Final Report (GL Hearn, September 2011) http://www.nwleics.gov.uk/files/documents/gl_hearn_housing_requirements_study_september_2011/GL%20Hearn%20Housing%20Requirements%20Study%20-%20September%202011.pdf Charnwood Local Plan Core Strategy – Housing Requirements Topic Paper (Charnwood BC) http://www.charnwood.gov.uk/files/papers/item_07_appendix_j_housing_requirements_topic_paper_with_bookmarks/ Harborough Housing Requirements Study (GL Hearn, March 2013) http://www.harborough.gov.uk/downloads/file/3069/harborough_housing_requirements_study-final_report_march_2013

http://www.blinehousing.info/LeicSHMA/Leicester_SHMA.htm

http://www.lsr-online.org/reports/leicester_and_leicestershire_shma_managing_and_updating_of_data



http://www.nwleics.gov.uk/files/documents/gl_hearn_housing_requirements_study_september_2011/GL%20Hearn%20Housing%20Requirements%20Study%20-%20September%202011.pdf



http://www.charnwood.gov.uk/files/papers/item_07_appendix_j_housing_requirements_topic_paper_with_bookmarks/

http://www.charnwood.gov.uk/files/papers/item_07_appendix_j_housing_requirements_topic_paper_with_bookmarks/

http://www.harborough.gov.uk/downloads/file/3069/harborough_housing_requirements_study-final_report_march_2013

http://www.harborough.gov.uk/downloads/file/3069/harborough_housing_requirements_study-final_report_march_2013

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Part Four

Conditions of Contract



September 2013

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4 Conditions of Contract

DATED 2013

NORTH WEST LEICESTERSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL (1)

and

[CONTRACTOR] (2)

AGREEMENT FOR THE

PROVISION OF SERVICES

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BY THIS AGREEMENT made the day of 2013 BETWEEN:

(1) NORTH WEST LEICESTERSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL of Council Offices, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 3FJ (‘the Council’); and

(2) [ ] a company registered in England & Wales with

Company Number [ ] whose Registered Office is at [ ] (“the Contractor”).

WHEREAS:

(A) The Council is procuring on behalf of the following local authorities in Leicestershire: Harborough District Council, Blaby District Council, Oadby & Wigston Borough Council, Charnwood Borough Council, Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, Melton Borough Council, Leicester City Council and North West Leicestershire District Council (each an “Authority” and together the “Authorities”).

(B) the Authorities require the Contractor to carry out a strategic housing market

assessment for their respective areas. (C) The Contractor shall provide the Services in accordance with the provisions of

this Agreement. 1. DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION 1.1 In this Agreement unless the context requires the following shall have the

meanings set out below:

“Authorised Officer” means an authorised representative of the Council that has day to day management of this Agreement.

“Authorities Representative” means the individual identified in the

Specification who will be the Contractors’ main contact for the purposes of the Services.

“Bid” means the Contractor’s Proposal submitted

to the Council on [DATE] and as detailed in

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Schedule 3.

“Change of Control” means in relation to the Contractor, either: (a) the transfer or disposal of 50% or more of the legal, beneficial or equitable interest in the shares of the Contractor (and "equitable interest" includes control over the exercise of voting rights conferred by those shares and/or control over the rights to appoint or remove directors or the rights to dividends); or (b) any other arrangements which have the same or similar effect to that noted in (a) above.

“Commencement Date” means the date on which this Agreement

commences and as detailed in Schedule 1.

“Confidential Information” All Personal Data and any information, however it is conveyed, that relates to the business affairs, developments, trade secrets and know how of the parties or the Authorities.

“Contract Manager” means an authorised representative of the

Contractor that has day to day management of this Agreement.

“Contract Period” means the length of time that this

Agreement for the provision of the Services shall continue for and as detailed in Schedule 1.

“Control” means the possession of or exercise by a

person or other legal entity that possesses, directly or indirectly, the power to direct or alter the direction of the management and policies of the Contractor.

“Data Subject” shall have the same meaning as set out

in the Data Protection Act 1998. “FOIA” means the Freedom of Information Act

2000, as amended from time to time.

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“Force Majeure Event” means flood, storm, fire, war, terrorist act, riot, strike or other industrial action, other than the industrial action of the employees, sub-contractors or agents of the Contractor or sequestration.

“Good Industry Practice” means the exercise of such degree of skill,

diligence, care and foresight which would reasonably and ordinarily be expected from a skilled and experienced contractor engaged in the supply of services similar to the Services under the same or similar circumstances as those applicable to this Agreement.

“Information” has the meaning given under section 84

Freedom of Information Act 2000.

“Intellectual Property Rights” means all copyright, patents or patent rights, registered and unregistered design rights, trade marks, service marks and all other intellectual or industrial property rights wherever in the world enforceable.

“Law” means all statutes, statutory instruments,

regulations, byelaws, rules, judicial rulings and orders made under any statute, directive or by any competent legislative or judicial body in England and Wales.

“Price” means the price to be paid by the Council to

the Contractor for the provision of the Services and as detailed in Schedule 1.

“Personal Data” shall have the same meaning as set out in the Data Protection Act 1998.

“Request for Information” means a request for information or an

apparent request under FOIA or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

“Schedules” means any schedule attached to and

forming part of this Agreement.

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“Services” means the services to be provided by the

Contractor to the Council as detailed in the Specification and in accordance with the Bid.

“Specification” means the Authority’s specification as set

out in schedule 2.

“Working Days” any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in England and Wales.

1.2 Any reference to a person shall include any natural person, partnership, joint

venture, body corporate, incorporated associations, government, governmental agency, persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity or undertaking.

1.3 A reference to any statute, order, regulation or similar instrument shall be

construed as a reference to the statute, order, regulation or instrument as amended by any subsequent statute, order, regulation or instrument or as contained in any subsequent re-enactment.

1.4 Words importing the singular should if the context requires have the plural

meaning and vice versa. 1.5 Words importing the masculine include the feminine and neuter. 1.6 Headings are for ease of reference only and shall not affect the interpretation

of this Agreement. 1.7 The words ‘include’, ‘includes’, ‘including’ are to be construed as if they were

immediately followed by the words ‘but not limited to’. 1.8 In the event of any conflict between the clauses of this Agreement and its

Schedules, the Council, acting reasonably, will determine precedence. 2. TERM 2.1 This Agreement shall commence on the Commencement Date and unless

otherwise terminated in accordance with this Agreement shall continue for the

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Contract Period. 3. PRICE AND PAYMENT 3.1 In consideration of the Contractor’s proper performance of the Services, the

Council shall pay the Price for the Services to the Contractor in the manner set out in this clause.

3.2 The Contractor shall submit a single VAT invoice to the Council no later than

seven (7) days after the end of each trigger point set out in the Price, detailing the Services provided in that period.

3.3 The Council shall pay any undisputed sums due to the Contractor under the

invoice within thirty (30) days of receipt of the invoice. 3.4 The Council reserves the right to withhold payment of any part of the Price

without payment of interest to the extent that the Contractor has either failed to provide the Services at all or has provided the Services inadequately in the opinion of the Council. No payment shall be made in such circumstances unless or until the Services have been reinstated to the Council’s satisfaction.

3.5 The Council may, but will not be obliged to, at any time without notice to the

Contractor, set off any liability of the Council to the Contractor against any liability of the Contractor to the Council however arising. The Council’s rights under this clause shall be without prejudice to any other rights or remedies available to the Council under this Agreement or otherwise.

3.6 Any overdue sums will bear interest from the final date for payment until

payment is made at 4%. The Contractor is not entitled to suspend provision of the Services as a result of any overdue sums.

4. PERFORMANCE AND STANDARD OF SERVICES 4.1 In the delivery of the Services, time shall be of the essence, including in

relation to the commencement of the provision of the Services within the time agreed or on a specified date.

4.2 The Contractor will provide the Services: 4.2.1 in a proper, skilful and workmanlike manner;

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4.2.2 by a sufficient number of appropriately qualified, trained and

experienced personnel with a high standard of skill, care and diligence;

4.2.3 to the reasonable satisfaction of the Authorities; 4.2.4 such that any of the Authorities’ reputations will not be damaged or

be at risk; 4.2.5 in accordance with the Specification and the Bid; and 4.2.6 in accordance with Law and Good Industry Practice. 4.3 The Council shall have the right to observe, monitor and audit the Contractor’s

performance of the Services. 4.4 If the Contractor at any time becomes aware of any material matter which

may affect the performance of the Services in accordance with this Agreement, the Contractor shall inform the Council immediately.

4.5 Without prejudice to the Council’s rights to terminate in accordance with this

Agreement, if any of the Services supplied are not in accordance with this Agreement, the Council shall be entitled to:

4.5.1 require the Contractor to provide replacement services in accordance

with this Agreement as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within fourteen (14) days of being requested to do so; and/or

4.5.2 require payment of the proportion of the Price which has been paid in

respect of such Services together with payment of any additional expenditure over and above the Price reasonably incurred by the Council in obtaining replacement services.

4.6 The Council retains the Contractor for the performance of the Services on a

non-exclusive basis. 4.7 The Contractor shall provide all equipment necessary for the provision of the

Services. 4.8 Title to all equipment used in the provision of the Services shall remain with

the Contractor and shall be at the Contractor’s own risk. The Council shall

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have no liability for any loss of or damage to the equipment unless the Contractor can demonstrate that such loss or damage was caused by the negligence of the Council, including its staff or agents.

5. CONTRACT MANAGER 5.1 The Contractor shall employ a competent and authorised Contract Manager

to act on behalf of the Contractor for all purposes connected with this Agreement.

5.2 The Contractor shall give written notice forthwith to the Council of any

change regarding the Contract Manager. 6. CONTRACTOR’S STAFF 6.1 The Contractor shall replace any of the Contractor’s staff who the Council

reasonably decides have failed to carry out their duties with reasonable skill and care. Following the removal of any such staff, the Contractor shall ensure such person is promptly replaced with another person with the necessary skills to meet the requirements of the Services.

6.2 Any additional costs of the Contractor resulting from any action of the

Council under this clause 6 shall solely be the responsibility of the Contractor. For the avoidance of doubt the contractor shall not be relieved of any obligation under this Agreement as a result of such action by the Council.

7. STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS 7.1 The Contractor shall comply with all relevant health and safety legislation in

the provision of the Services. 7.2 The Contractor shall comply with all obligations under the Human Rights Act

1998. 7.3 The Contractor shall not unlawfully discriminate within the meaning and

scope of any Law, enactment, order or regulation relating to discrimination (whether age, race, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation or otherwise) in employment.

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7.4 The Contractor shall comply with all relevant legislation relating to its staff

however employed including the compliance in law of the ability of staff to work in the United Kingdom.

7.5 If the Contractor has a finding against it in relation to its obligations under

clause 7.1 or 7.4 it will provide the Council with: 7.5.1 details of the finding; and 7.5.2 the steps taken by the Contractor to remedy the situation.

7.6 This clause 7 shall be without prejudice to the generality of the Contractor’s duty to perform the Services in accordance with Law.

8. INSURANCE 8.1 The Contractor shall maintain insurance necessary to cover the liabilities

arising under this Agreement and without prejudice to the forgoing, the following insurances:

8.1.1 employers liability with a limit of liability not less than ten million

pounds (£10,000,000); 8.1.2 public liability with a limit of liability not less than ten million pounds

(£10,000,000); and 8.1.3 professional indemnity with a limit of liability not less than two million

pounds (£2,000,000). 8.2 The Contractor shall upon request provide details of such insurances to the

reasonable satisfaction of the Authorised Officer and ensure that all premiums relating to such insurances have been paid.

8.3 Neither party seeks to exclude or limit its liability for: 8.3.1 death or personal injury caused by its negligence (but will not be

liable for death or personal injury caused by the other party’s negligence);

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8.3.2 fraudulent misrepresentation; or 8.3.3 any other matter in respect of which, as a matter of Law,

liability cannot be excluded or limited. 8.4 Except where specifically provided, neither party shall be liable to the other

for any indirect or consequential loss (including loss of profit and pure economic loss) however caused.

8.5 The Contractor shall indemnify the Council in full and on demand in relation

to any costs, claims, liabilities, damages or losses (including without limitation any losses or damages to the real or personal property of the Council or an Authority or any third party and any third party claims in relation to Intellectual Property Rights or injury claimed by any third party and against all liabilities awarded against or incurred by the Council or an Authority (including legal expenses)) which relate to or arise indirectly or directly from the performance or non-performance, negligence, defect, fault, default or omission of the Contractor in providing the Services and any termination of this Agreement arising from the default of the Contractor under clause 9.1.

8.6 The Council’s liability to the Contractor under this contract in relation to any

breach, default or arising under contract (including indemnity) tort or any other legal theory shall be limited, subject to clause 8.3, to the Price actually paid under this Agreement as at the date of the event giving rise to the liability.

9. TERMINATION 9.1 The parties agree that any of the following circumstances constitute a

material breach of this Agreement and the Council may by notice in writing terminate this Agreement immediately as a consequence of such material breach:

9.1.1 the Contractor is convicted of a criminal offence; or 9.1.2 the Contractor has committed a material breach of the

obligations under this Agreement and such breach is incapable of remedy or has not been remedied within ten (10) working days of written notice from the Council (and without limitation the following clauses will not be capable of remedy, Clause 16 (Bribery and Corruption), Clause 9.1.3 (Change of Control), Clause 8 (Insurance), Clause 7 (Statutory Requirements),

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Clause 26 (Offers of Employment) will not be capable of remedy; or

9.1.3 there is a Change of Control of the Contractor without the prior

written consent of the Council; or 9.1.4 the Contractor becomes bankrupt, or makes a composition

or arrangement with its creditors, or has a proposal for voluntary arrangement approved in accordance with the Insolvency Act 1986; or

9.1.5 the Contractor has an application made or notice of intention

is given under the Insolvency Act 1986 to appoint an administrative receiver or administrator or an administrative receiver or administrator is appointed; or

9.1.6 the Contractor has a winding-up order made, or a resolution

for voluntary winding-up passed (except for the purposes of amalgamation or reorganisation); or

9.1.7 the Contractor has a provisional liquidator, receiver or

manager appointed; or 9.1.8 the Contractor has possession taken by or on behalf of the

holders of any debentures secured by a floating charge, or property comprised in or subject to a floating charge; or

9.1.9 the Contractor ceases to carry on the whole of its business

or threatens to cease the same or becomes unable to pay its debts within the meaning of Section 123 Insolvency Act 1986 or if the Council reasonably believes that any such events may occur; or

9.1.10 there is a risk or a reasonable belief held by the Council that

there is a risk that reputational damage to the Council or one or more of the Authorities will occur as a result of this Agreement continuing; or

9.1.11 where the Contractor commits more than one minor breach of

this Agreement, the Council may elect to treat such minor breaches cumulatively as a material breach; or

9.1.12 the Contractor fails to pay the Council any sums due to the

Council within sixty (60) days of the date on which they fall due.

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9.2 Either party may terminate this Agreement on giving the other no less than

two (2) months written notice. 9.3 Neither party shall have the right to terminate this Agreement otherwise than

in accordance with the express terms set out in this Agreement. 9.4 Any breach of this Agreement will be a material breach if it has an adverse

effect on the performance of the Services. 10. DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE 10.1 If a dispute arises between the Council and the Contractor in connection

with this Agreement the parties shall use reasonable endeavours to resolve such dispute by means of a prompt discussion at an appropriate managerial level.

10.2 If a dispute is not resolved within ten (10) Working Days of referral under

clause 10.1 then either party may refer it to the Director or appropriate nominated officer of each party for resolution who shall meet for discussions within ten (10) Working Days or longer period as the parties may agree.

10.3 A dispute not resolved to the satisfaction of both parties in accordance with

clauses 10.1 and 10.2 shall next be referred at the request of either party to a mediator appointed by agreement between the parties within ten (10) Working Days of one party requesting mediation, with the costs of mediation determined by the mediator.

10.4 Nothing in this clause shall prevent either party from seeking from any Court

of competent jurisdiction an interim order restraining the other party from doing any act or compelling the other party to do any act.

10.5 The performance of this Agreement shall not be suspended, cease or be

delayed by the reference of a dispute to mediation and the Contractor shall comply fully with its obligations under this Agreement at all times.

11. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 11.1 All Intellectual Property Rights:

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11.1.1 provided to the Contractor by the Council shall remain the

property of the Council; and/or

11.1.2 prepared by or for the Contractor specifically for the use, or intended use, in relation to the performance of this Agreement shall belong to the Authorities, jointly. For the avoidance of doubt, the reports provided under the Services shall be the joint property of the Authorities.

11.2 The Contractor shall obtain all necessary approvals and/or licences before

using any material, in relation to the performance of this Agreement which is or may be subject to any third party Intellectual Property Rights.

11.3 It is a condition of this Agreement that the Services will not infringe any

Intellectual Property Rights of any third party and, without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of clause 8.5, the Contractor shall during and after the Contract Period indemnify and keep indemnified without limitation the Council against all liabilities which the Council may suffer or incur as a result or in connection with any breach of this clause 11, except where any such claim relates to the act or omission of the Council.

12. CONFIDENTIALITY

12.1 Except to the extent set out in this clause or where disclosure is expressly permitted, each party shall:

12.1.1 treat the other party’s Confidential Information as confidential; and 12.1.2 not disclose the other party’s Confidential Information to any other person without the owner’s prior written consent. 12.2 Clause 12.1 shall not apply where: 12.2.1 such disclosure is a requirement of Law placed upon the party making the disclosure; 12.2.2 such information was in the possession of the party making the disclosure without obligation of confidentiality prior to its disclosure by the information owner;

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12.2.3 such information was obtained from a third party without obligations of confidentiality; 12.2.4 such information was already in the public domain at the time of disclosure otherwise than by a breach of this Agreement; or 12.2.5 it is independently developed without access to the other party’s Confidential Information.

12.3 The Contractor shall not, and shall procure that the Contractor’s staff do not, use any of the Confidential Information received otherwise than for the purpose of providing the Services.

13. DATA PROTECTION ACT 13.1 With respect to the handling of any Personal Data in accordance with the

Data Protection Act 1998 it is agreed by the parties that the Council is the Data Controller and that the Contractor is the Data Processor.

13.2 The Contractor shall: 13.2.1 process the Personal Data only in accordance with instructions

from the Council; 13.2.2 process the Personal Data only to the extent, and in such a

manner, as is necessary for the priorities of the Services or as is required by Law;

13.2.3 implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to

protect the Personal Data against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, obstruction, damage, alteration or disclosure;

13.2.4 take reasonable steps to ensure the reliability of any Contractor’s

staff who have access to the Personal Data; 13.2.5 obtain prior written consent from the Council in order to transfer the

Personal Data to any sub-contractors for the provision of the Services;

13.2.6 ensure that all Contractor’s staff required to access the Personal

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Data are informed of the confidential nature of the Personal Data and comply with the obligations set out in this clause 13;

13.2.7 ensure that none of the Contractor’s staff publish, disclose or

divulge any of the Personal Data to any third party unless directed in writing to do so by the Council;

13.2.8 notify the Council within five Working Days if it receives:

13.2.8.1 a request from a Data Subject to have access to that person’s Personal Data; or

13.2.8.2 a complaint or request relating to the Council’s obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

13.2.9 provide the Council with full cooperation and assistance in relation

to any complaint or request made, by:

13.2.9.1 providing the Council with full details of the complaint or request;

13.2.9.2 complying with data access requests within the relevant

timescales set out in the Data Protection Act 1998 and in accordance with the Council’s instructions;

13.2.9.3 providing the Council with any Personal Data it holds in relation to a Data Subject; and

13.2.9.4 providing the Council with any information requested by the Council.

13.2.10 permit the Council to inspect and audit the Contractor’s data

processing activities and comply with all reasonable requests or directions by the Council to enable the Council to verify that the Contractor is in full compliance with its obligations under this Agreement;

13.2.11 if requested provide a written description of the technical and

organisational methods employed by the Contractor for processing Personal Data;

13.2.12 not process Personal Data outside the European Economic Area

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without the prior written consent of the Council. 13.3 The Contractor shall comply at all times with the Data Protection Act 1998 and shall not perform its obligations under this Agreement in such a way as to cause the Council to breach any of its applicable obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

14. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 14.1 The Contractor acknowledges that the Authorities are subject to the

requirements of the FOIA and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and shall assist and cooperate with the the Authorities to enable the Authorities to comply with their information disclosure obligations. 14.2 The Contractor shall:

14.2.1 transfer to the relevant Authority all Requests for Information that it receives as soon as possible and in any event within two Working Days of receiving a Request for Information;

14.2.2 provide the relevant Authority with a copy of all information in its

possession within five Working Days of the Council’s request; and

14.2.3 provide all necessary assistance as reasonably requested by the Authority to enable it to respond to the Request for Information.

14.3 The relevant Authority shall be responsible for determining whether any

Information is exempt from disclosure. 14.4 In no event shall the Contractor respond directly to a Request for Information.

15. RECORD KEEPING 15.1 The Contractor shall keep and maintain for a period of not less than five (5)

years after the termination of this Agreement, or for as long a period as agreed between the parties in writing, full and accurate records of this Agreement, including all expenditure reimbursed by the Council and all payments made by the Council.

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15.2 Upon request by the Council, the Contractor shall allow the Council and the Council’s representatives such access to those records kept in accordance with 15.1 as may be required by the Council in connection with this Agreement.

16. BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION 16.1 The Council shall be entitled to terminate this Agreement for material breach

pursuant to clause 9.1 and to recover from the Contractor the amount of any loss resulting from such termination if the Contractor:

16.1.1 offers or gives or agrees to give to any person any gift or

consideration of any kind as an inducement or reward for doing, or forbearing to do, or for having done, or refrained from doing any action in relation to the obtaining of execution of this Agreement or any other agreement with the Council or any of the Authorities; or

16.1.2 for showing, or forbearing to show, favour or disfavour to any person

in relation to this Agreement or any other agreement with the Council or any of the Authorities or if any like acts shall have been done by any person employed by the Contractor, or acting on the Contractor’s behalf (whether with or without the knowledge of the Contractor); or

16.1.3 if in relation to any contract with the Council or any of the Authorities

the Contractor, or any person employed by the Contractor or acting on the Contractor’s behalf, shall have committed any offence under the Bribery Act 2010 or any amendment to it; or

16.1.4 shall give any fee or reward the receipt of which is an offence under

section 117 (2) of the Local Government Act 1972. 17. FORCE MAJEURE 17.1 Subject to the following provisions of this clause, neither party shall be

considered to be in default of this Agreement or liable to the other party by reason of any delay or failure in the performance of that party’s obligations under this Agreement to the extent resulting directly from any force majeure event. 17.2 If either party is prevented from performing its obligations under this Agreement by a Force Majeure Event:

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17.2.1 it shall immediately serve notice in writing on the other party,

giving details of the nature, circumstance and commence of the Force Majeure Event; and

17.2.2 it shall use all reasonable endeavours to end or resolve the

Force Majeure Event and to resume performance of its obligations as soon as it has ceased; and

17.2.3 it shall use all reasonable endeavours to continue performance

of this Agreement 17.3 Relief under clause 17.2 shall be subject to the ending party using all

reasonable endeavours to continue performance of this agreement during the currency of the Force Majeure Event.

17.4 If a Force Majeure Event continues for a period of more than 28 days from the date of its commence either party shall be entitled to terminate this Agreement immediately upon written notice to the other party without liability except for any rights or liabilities which have accrued up to the date of termination.

18. NOTICES 18.1 Any notice required by this Agreement to be given by either party to the

other shall be in writing and shall be served personally, or by sending it by first class post or recorded delivery to the appropriate address, as set out in the Specification.

18.2 Any notice shall be deemed to be served: 18.2.1 on the day of delivery if served personally; or 18.2.2 48 hours after posting if by first class post; or 18.2.3 at the time of signature if by recorded delivery. 19. VARIATION 19.1 No variation to this Agreement shall be valid unless it is in writing and signed

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by the Council and the Contractor. 19.2 When any variation is entered into pursuant to clause 19.1 each party shall

bear their own costs. 20. WAIVER 20.1 The failure by either party to enforce at any time any area or more of the

provisions of this Agreement shall not be a waiver of them, or of the right at any time subsequently to enforce all or any of the provisions of this Agreement.

20.2 No waiver of any of the provisions of this Agreement shall be effective

unless it is expressed to be a waiver in writing. 21. THIRD PARTY RIGHTS 21.1 This Agreement is enforceable by the original parties to it, by their

successors in title and permitted assignees. Any rights of any person to enforce the terms of this Agreement under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 are excluded, save as provided for in clause 21.2.

21.2 The Parties agree that the Authorities shall enjoy the rights set out in the

following clauses: Clause 8.5, Clause 11.1, Clause 4.2.3, Clause 4.2.4, Clause 11.1.2 and Clause 14.

22. ASSIGNMENT 22.1 Subject to any express provision of this Agreement, the Contractor shall not

without the prior written consent of the Council, assign all or any benefit, right or interest under this Agreement or sub-contract the supply of the Services.

22.2 The Council shall be entitled to: 22.2.1 assign, novate or dispose of its rights and obligations under this

Agreement either in whole or in part to any Contracting Authority (as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2006, as amended); or

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22.2.2 transfer, assign or novate its rights and obligations where

required by Law or as part of a reorganisation. 22.3 The Contractor shall remain responsible and liable for the acts and

omissions of any sub-contractors, servant, agents or employees as though they were its own.

23. SEVERANCE 23.1 If any provision of this Agreement shall become or shall be declared by any

Court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable in any way, such invalidity shall not impair or affect any other provision all of which shall remain in full force and effect.

24. COSTS AND EXPENSES 24.1 Each of the parties will pay their own costs and expenses incurred in

connection with the negotiation, preparation, execution, completion and implementation of this Agreement.

25. NO AGENCY OR PARTNERSHIP 25.1 Nothing in this Agreement will be deemed to constitute a relationship

between the Contractor, Council or any of the Authorities of partnership, joint venture, principal and agent or employer and employee.

25.2 The Contractor, Council or Authorities have not, nor may they represent that

they have, any authority to act or make any commitments on another party’s behalf.

26. OFFERS OF EMPLOYMENT 26.1 For the duration of this Agreement and a period of 12 months following

expiry or termination of this Agreement the Contractor shall not employ or offer employment to any of the Council’s employees who have been associated with the procurement or contract management of the Services without the Council’s prior approval.

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27. CO-OPERATION AND MONITORING

27.1 In providing the Services, the Contractor shall co-operate with the Council and comply with the Council’s reasonable requests to enable it to monitor the performance of this Agreement or the provision of the Services or in carrying out any power or function or for such other purposes as the Council may reasonably determine from time to time.

27.2 The Contractor will at its own cost provide any information that may be

required by the Council to comply with the Council’s procedures for monitoring of this Agreement.

27.3 The Contractor shall permit the Council to make any inspections or tests

which may reasonably be required in respect of the Contractor’s premises in relation to this Agreement.

28. LAW AND JURISDICTION 28.1 This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of England and shall be

subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

AS WITNESS the hands of the parties SIGNED for and on behalf of the Council Authorised signatory SIGNED for and on behalf of the Contractor Authorised signatory

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SCHEDULE 1 Commencement Date: [THIS IS THE DATE ON WHICH THE PROVISION OF THE SERVICES IS TO START]

Contract Period: The period from the Commencement Date until such times as the report provided as part of the Services is approved by the Authorities.

[INSERT TIMETABLE]

Price: % of total cost

Trigger for submission of invoice by Contractor

Total amount (excluding VAT)


Satisfactory completion of Stage 1 Housing Requirements Technical Paper (final version)

Fifty per cent (50%)

Satisfactory completion of draft SHMA report


Satisfactory completion of final SHMA report and Exec Summary

Five per cent (5%)

Satisfactory handover of relevant data

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SCHEDULE 2 The Specification [TO BE INSERTED]

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SCHEDULE 3 The Bid [TO BE INSERTED]

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Part Five

Business Questionnaire



September 2013

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5 Business Questionnaire The purpose of this section is to assess the suitability of potential providers in terms of: technical and professional ability compliance with legislation financial standing

Any questions regarding general company policies and procedures or experience in delivering the types of good, works or services concerned should be included here. If you are unsure what to include, please contact the Procurement Team for advice.

Contents Introduction Guidance for Applicants Questionnaire: A General Information

B Technical Resources and References

C Financial and Insurance Information

D Equal Opportunities

E Health & Safety

F Environmental Management and Social Considerations

G Business Continuity Planning I Undertaking by the Applicant Checklist of Enclosures Appendix 1: Selection Criteria

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Guidance for Applicants

5.1.ˇ Instructions for Completion

5.1.1 You are strongly advised to keep a copy of your completed application. You will need this if the Councils wishes to clarify or discuss your answers with you. 5.1.2 Please answer all questions fully continuing onto separate sheets if necessary. Any information provided on separate sheets or on supplementary documents must be clearly cross-referenced to the relevant question in a marked appendix attached securely to this, questionnaire.

5.1.3 Do not leave questions unanswered. Where a question is not relevant to your

organisation this should be indicated, with an explanation.

5.1.4 Answer the questions specifically for the applicant, not for the group if you are part of a group of companies. However, please answer accordingly where group policies, statements etc are normally used in your organisation.

5.1.5 Please include, where appropriate, any supporting documents marking clearly on all enclosures the name of your organisation and the number of the question to which they refer. A checklist of enclosures is provided for your convenience.

5.1.6 You must ensure that you have signed the Undertaking and Statement Relating to Good Standing at Sections I and J.

5.1.7 The application must be returned to the Councils by the date shown on the front of the document.

5.1.8 Any questions about the procurement procedure should be submitted via the delta suite.

5.1.9 The Councils may disqualify any Applicant who fails to:

5.1.9.1 comply with the mandatory requirements of Regulation 23 and/or fails to certify at Part J that it has fulfilled these requirements

5.1.9.2 provide a satisfactory response to any questions in the questionnaire (including the discretionary requirements of Regulation 23) or inadequately or incorrectly completes any question 5.1.9.3 submit its completed questionnaire by the deadline shown on the

front of the document

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5.1.10 Evaluation Criteria

Details of the criteria and weightings used to score responses to the questionnaire are included at appendix 1 for your information. Tenderers must achieve a pass for all of the pass/fail questions and achieve a minimum pass mark of 100.

5.2 Notes on Section A – General Information

5.2.1 Please note that the organisation making this application must be the same legal

entity with which the Councils shall contract. 5.2.2 The Councils will only contract with an applicant having a legal form capable of

entering into contract under English law.

5.3 Notes on Section C – Financial and Insurance

5.3.1 The Councils will use the information given in this section to assess the financial position of the applicant and, where appropriate, set contract limits. We also wish to ensure that you are properly registered for VAT, CIS (if applicable) and insurance.

5.3.2 For all limited companies the Council will conduct a financial evaluation of the

organisation based on a credit report issued by an external business information service. However in some instances we may need to examine the Organisation’s financial statements and if this is the case we will request these separately

5.3.3 The minimum insurance levels quoted in the Questionnaire are the Councils current

requirements from all suppliers in this category. This is in accordance with the Councils Risk Management Strategy.

5.3.3.1 Applicants are not necessarily required to hold the required levels of insurance prior to contract award, but the Councils needs to see a commitment to attaining the required cover prior to commencing work if successful.

5.3.3.2 Please note that non-disclosure of insurance levels could mean that

minimum levels of financial standing cannot be ascertained and your application may be rejected.

5.4 Notes on Section D – Equal Opportunities

5.4.1 The Councils has a statutory duty to promote all forms of equality under the Equality

Act 2010 through its procurement activity.

5.4.2 This duty to promote equal opportunity and eliminate discrimination is extended throughout the Councils supply chain and must be implemented by organisations wishing to tender for its contracts.

5.4.3 The purpose of the questions is to ensure that organisations can demonstrate that they are a fair employer in keeping with these statutory duties. You are asked to

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answer the questions to demonstrate your current compliance as an employer with these equality duties.

5.4.4 If you are not subject to UK legislation please supply details of your experience in

complying with equivalent legislation that is designed to eliminate discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity.

5.5 Notes on Section E – Health & Safety

5.5.1 The Councils has a statutory duty to ensure that all work contracted out on its

behalf is carried out safely by competent providers. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act (1974) requires that all companies employing 5 or more employees has a written Health & Safety Policy.

5.5.2 Companies operating with less than 5 employees still have hazards/risks attached to their work activity, therefore relevant information is required. To ensure that the vetting procedure is consistent and all applicants are treated fairly, a two-tier system has been adopted.

5.5.3 HSE provide guidance material for small businesses. Telephone 0845 3450055 for details or visit www.hse.gov.uk/business

5.6 Notes on Section F – Environmental Management

5.6.1 Question F4 refers to the eight fundamental International Labour Organisation

conventions. These are: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention,

1948 (No. 87) Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111)

5.6.2 For information on how the conventions have been enacted into national law in different countries please visit: http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/country_profiles.byCountry?p_lang=en

http://www.hse.gov.uk/business

http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/country_profiles.byCountry?p_lang=en

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A. GENERAL INFORMATION

A1 Full name, address and website: Organisation Name Address

Town/City Postcode Country Website

A2 Main contact for correspondence about this submission:

Name Position Telephone Number Fax Number Email Address

A3 Invoice address (if different from main address):

Address

Town/City Postcode Country Telephone Number Fax Number Email Address

A4 Company Registration

Date of formation Place of formation Date of registration

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Company registration number Certificate of Incorporation enclosed Yes/No Certificate of change of name enclosed

Yes / No

Registered Office

Brief description of primary business activities and main products and services

A5 Please tick the correct box to indicate whether you are a:

Sole Trader Partnership Limited Liability Partnership Public Limited Company Private Limited Company Industrial and Provident Society

Other (please state)

Note: “Other” would include co-operatives, other local authority organisations (suppliers or direct labour organisations), nationalised industries (which are incorporated under specific acts of parliament), or other public sector organisations.

A6 Please state if any Director, Partner, or Associate has (a)

relative(s) who is employed by any of the Councils who are commissioning this study Councils.

Yes / No

If Yes, please enclose details. Tick if enclosed

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A7 Please state if any Director, Partner or Associate has (a) relative(s) who is employed by the Councils at a senior level or is a Councillor at any of the Councils commissioning the study..

Yes / No

If Yes, please provide details: Title Name

A8 Is the potential provider a consortium joint venture or

other arrangement?

Yes / No

If Yes, please provide details of the constitution and percentage shareholdings.

Organisation Percentage Shareholding

A9 Please provide a statement regarding any potential conflicts of interest and the steps that will be taken to ensure that the services provided are fair, open and impartial.

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B. TECHNICAL RESOURCES AND REFERENCES B1 Please describe the main business activities of your organisation. B2 Please supply details of staffing levels in your organisation by completing the table

below. Category Number of employees Management Professional/Technical Admin/Clerical

B3 REFERENCES Please list below the details of organisations (preferably public sector) OTHER

THAN THE AUTHORITIES who are commissioning this study for which the applicant has recently carried out work. The organisation and supervising officer may be approached for a reference.

1 2 3 Name of client Organisation

Contact name

Telephone number

Email address

Address

Contract title/description

Contract value

Date contract awarded

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Date of completion

B4 Please provide details of contracts carried out for THE AUTHORITIES WHO ARE

COMMISSIING THIS STUDY including work in the last 3 years. You are not required to have carried out work for the Authority previously, but this information may be used for administrative purposes and to take up internal references.

1 2 3 Department

Supervising officer

Contract title/description

Contract value

Date contract awarded

Date of completion

B5 Has your organisation ever had to pay financial

penalties or contractual damages levied in respect of a failure to perform to the terms of a contract?

Yes / No

If Yes, please enclose details

Tick if enclosed

B6 Has your organisation had a contract terminated or your employment determined under the terms of the contract in the last three years?

Yes / No


Tick if enclosed

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B7 Has your organisation failed to have a contract renewed for failure to perform to its terms in the last three years?

Yes / No


Tick if enclosed

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C. FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE INFORMATION

C1

Who is the person in the organisation responsible for financial matters?

(This is the person who will be contacted for further financial information if required)

Name

Position

Telephone Number

C2

If the applicant is a member of a group, give the name and address of the ultimate holding company/parent organisation

Name

Address

C3 Would the ultimate holding company/parent organisation be prepared to guarantee your contract performance as its subsidiary?

Yes / No

C4 VAT Registration Number (if applicable):

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C5 Are there any outstanding claims or litigation against

the applicant, which affect or could affect your ability to perform the contract for the contract period?

Yes / No


Tick if enclosed

C6 Please give details of your insurance policies:

Employers Liability

Public Liability (3rd Party)

Professional Indemnity

Minimum required (for each and every claim, costs included)

£10M £10M £2M

Insurer’s Name:

Insurer’s Contact Details:

Policy No:

Expiry Date:

Extent of Cover:

Excess (or deductible)

If you do not currently hold the minimum cover required, please provide a statement of your commitment to attaining this cover prior to commencing work if successful.

Tick if enclosed

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C7 Has your organisation been refused insurance cover within the last five years?

Yes / No

If “Yes” please give details of refusal

Tick if enclosed

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D. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES If employ more than 5 people D1 Do you have a written equal opportunities policy?

Yes / No

If yes, please enclose a copy Tick if enclosed

If you do not have a written equal opportunities policy, please explain how you meet your equal opportunities obligations:

D2 If you do have a written equal opportunities policy, does your policy

cover:

Recruitment, selection, training, promotion, discipline and dismissal?

Yes / No

Discrimination, harassment and victimisation, making it clear that these are disciplinary offences within the firm?

Yes / No

Does your policy identify a senior position with responsibility for the policy and its implementation?

Yes / No

If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, how often is your policy reviewed?

Please state when it is next due for review:

If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, how do you communicate your policy to your staff?

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D3 If you are an organisation with 50 or more

employees, do you provide equality training for managers and staff responsible for recruitment and selection?

Yes / No

D4 If you are an organisation with 50 or more employees, do you:

Monitor the profile of your workforce by age, disability, ethnicity, gender?

Yes / No

Monitor the profile of your workforce by sexual orientation, religion or belief?

Yes / No

Do you monitor the profile of applicants for jobs within your organisation?

Yes / No

Do you take any action to ensure that your workforce is representative of the population in your area?

Yes / No

Refer to your equal opportunities policy or practice in recruitment advertisements and publicity?

Yes / No

D5 In the last three years, has any finding of unlawful discrimination or other breach of equality law been made against your organisation by any court or industrial tribunal?

Yes / No

D6 In the last three years, has your organisation been the

subject of a formal investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission or any previous equality commission on grounds of alleged unlawful discrimination?

Yes / No

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D7 If you have answered yes to D5 or D6, what was the result of the

investigation and what actions did you take in response?

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E. HEALTH AND SAFETY

E1.1 Name of Director, Partner or other person responsible for the implementation of your organisation’s Health & Safety Policy

E1.2 Please state the total number of employees within your organisation.

Include Directors, trainees etc

E1.3 Do you have access to a Health & Safety advisor? Yes / No

If Yes, please list details inc. qualifications, experience and professional membership status

E1.4 Have there been any Improvement or Prohibition

Notices or Prosecutions served on your organisation by the Health & Safety Executive or Local Authority in the last 10 years?

Yes / No


Tick if enclosed

If your organisation has more than 5 employees:

E2.1 Please provide a copy of your organisation’s Health & Safety Policy and manual

Tick if enclosed

E2.2 How is the Health & Safety Policy brought to the attention of your organisation’s:

Employees?

Sub-contractors?

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If your organisation has less than 5 employees:

E3.1 Please provide a letter or statement of your commitment to comply with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974

Tick if enclosed

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F. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

F1 The Councils expect their suppliers to comply with, or exceed, all statutory environmental requirements. Has your organisation had any notices or prosecutions served on you with respect to environmental legislation? You need not disclose details of spent convictions.

Yes / No

If yes, please enclose details

Tick if enclosed What steps have you subsequently taken to ensure that you comply with environmental legislation? Please enclose examples of procedures and/or staff training records.

Tick if enclosed

F2 Please provide evidence of the systems your organisation has in place to ensure you comply with the International Labour Organisation’s eight Fundamental Conventions as applicable in the country in which you operate (see Guidance for Applicants paragraph 5.6).

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G. BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING

G1 Do you have a formal Business Continuity

Management plan? Yes / No

If Yes What Business Continuity Planning documents are available?

Is the service the subject of this procurement included in those plans?

When was the Business Continuity Plan last tested? The Councils reserves the right to review relevant documents that relate to the service you will provide for the Councils.

G2 Who is responsible for Business Continuity within your organisation?

Name

Job title

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I. UNDERTAKING BY THE APPLICANT I/We certify that the information supplied is accurate to be best of my/our knowledge and that I/we accept the conditions and undertakings requested in the questionnaire. I/We understand that false information could result in my/our disqualification. I/We also understand that it is a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment, to give or offer any gift or consideration whatsoever as an inducement or reward to any servant of a public body and that any such action will empower the Councils to cancel any contract currently in force and will result in my/our disqualification. Applicant Name*

Signed

Duly authorised on behalf of the Applicant

Position

Date

*Please note the term “applicant” refers to sole proprietor, partnership, incorporated company, unincorporated body and cooperative as appropriate. The undertaking should be signed by a director, partner or other duly authorised representative in her/his own name and on behalf of the applicant.

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J. STATEMENT RELATING TO GOOD STANDING

STATEMENT RELATING TO GOOD STANDING — GROUNDS FOR OBLIGATORY EXCLUSION (IN ELIGIBILITY) AND CRITERIA FOR REJECTION OF tenderers in accordance with Regulation 23 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended)

CONTRACT NAME/DESCRIPTION: Banking Services

I/We confirm that, to the best of my/our knowledge, the applicant is not in breach of the provisions of Regulation 23 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended) and in particular that:

Grounds for mandatory rejection (ineligibility)

The applicant (or its directors or any other person who has powers of representation, decision or control of the named organisation) has not been convicted of any of the following offences (the term “active corruption” means corruption as defined in Article 3 of the Councils Act of 26 May 1997 or Article 3(1) of Councils Joint Action 98/742/JHA):

(a) conspiracy within the meaning of section 1 or 1A of the Criminal Law Act 1977 where that conspiracy relates to participation in a criminal organisation as defined in Article 2 of Councils Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

(b) corruption within the meaning of section 1(2) of the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889 or section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, where the offence relates to active corruption (as amended);

(c) the offence of bribery, where the offence relates to active corruption;

(d) bribery within the meaning of section 1 or 6 of the Bribery Act 2010;

(e) fraud, where the offence relates to fraud affecting the financial interests of the European Communities as defined by Article 1 of the Convention relating to the protection of the financial interests of the European Union, within the meaning of:

(i) the offence of cheating the Revenue;

(ii) the offence of conspiracy to defraud;

(iii) fraud or theft within the meaning of the Theft Act 1968, the Theft Act (Northern Iseland) 1969, the Theft Act 1978 or the Theft (Northern Ireland) Order 1978;

(iv) fraudulent trading within the meaning of section 458 of the Companies Act 1985, article 451 of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1968 or section 993 of the Companies Act 2006;

(v) defrauding the Customs within the meaning of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 or section 72 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994;

(vi) an offence in connection with taxation in the European Community within the meaning of section 71 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993; or

(vii) destroying, defacing or concealing of documents or procuring the extension of a valuable security within the meaning of section 20 of the Theft Act 1968 or section 19 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969;

(viii) fraud within the meaning of section 2, 3 or 4 of the Fraud Act 2006;

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(ix) making, adapting, supplying or offering to supply articles for use in frauds within the meaning of section 7 of the Fraud Act 2006;

(f) money laundering within the meaning of section 340(11) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002;

(g) an offence in connection with the proceeds of criminal conduct within the meaning of section 93A, 93B or 93C of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 or article 45, 46 or 47 of the Proceeds of Crime (Northern Ireland) Order 1996; or

(h) any other offence within the meaning of Article 45(1) of the Public Sector Directive.

Applicant Name*

Signed

Position

Date

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Discretionary grounds for rejection

The Applicant (or its directors or any other person who has powers of representation, decision or control of the named organisation) confirms that it:

(a) being an individual person in respect of whom a debt relief order has not been made of or is not bankrupt or has not had a receiving order or administration order or bankruptcy restrictions order nor a debt relief restrictions order made against him or has not made any composition or arrangement with or for the benefit of his creditors or has not made any conveyance or assignment for the benefit of his creditors or does not appear unable to pay or to have no reasonable prospect of being able to pay, a debt within the meaning of section 268 of the Insolvency Act 1986, or article 242 of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, or in Scotland has not granted a trust deed for creditors or become otherwise apparently insolvent, or is not the subject of a petition presented for sequestration of his estate, or is not the subject of any similar procedure under the law of any other state;

(b) being a partnership constituted under Scots law has not granted a trust deed or become otherwise apparently insolvent, or is not the subject of a petition presented for sequestration of its estate;

(c) being a company or any other entity within the meaning of section 255 of the Enterprise Act 2002 has not passed a resolution or is not the subject of an order by the court for the company’s winding up otherwise than for the purpose of bona fide reconstruction or amalgamation, nor had a receiver, manager or administrator on behalf of a creditor appointed in respect of the company’s business or any part thereof or is not the subject of similar procedures under the law of any other state;

(d) has not been convicted of a criminal offence relating to the conduct of his business or profession;

(e) has not committed an act of grave misconduct in the course of his business or profession;

(f) has fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions under the law of any part of the United Kingdom or of the relevant State in which the organisation is established;

(g) has fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of taxes under the law of any part of the United Kingdom or of the relevant State in which the economic operator is established;

(h) is not guilty of serious misrepresentation in providing any information required of him under regulation 23, 24, 25, 26 or 27 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 or has provided such information in response to a request by the Councils;

(i) in relation to procedures for the award of a public services contract, is licensed in the relevant State in which he is established or is a member of an organisation in that relevant State when the law of that relevant State prohibits the provision of the services to be provided under the contract by a person who is not so licensed or who is not such a member;

(j) subject to paragraphs (7), (7A), (7B), (8), (8A), (8B) and (9) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006, is registered on the professional or trade register of the relevant state in which he/it is established.

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Applicant Name*

Signed

Position

Date

85

Thank you for completing this questionnaire. Before returning it, please ensure that you have: Answered all the questions appropriate to your application Signed the undertaking Enclosed relevant documents as follows. (Please tick appropriate box)

Question No.

Information Required Enclosed To Follow

N/A

A4 Certificate of Incorporation of the Company and any certificate of change of name

A6/A7 Details of any Director, Partner or Associate who has (a) relative(s) employed by the Councils

B5

Details of financial penalties levied in respect of failure to perform

B6 Details of contracts terminated/employment determined under the terms of a contract

B7 Details of contracts not renewed for failure to perform

C5 Details of any outstanding claims or litigation against the applicant

C6 Details of insurance cover

C7 Details of refusal of insurance cover

D1 Equal Opportunities policy

E1.4 Details of prosecutions or notices served on the applicant by the Health and Safety Executive

E2.1 / E3.1

Health and Safety Policy and Manual or

Statement of commitment

F1 Details of prosecutions or notices served on the applicant with respect to environmental legislation

Examples of procedures/training records evidencing steps taken to ensure compliance

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APPENDIX 1 Scoring Criteria

Question Type

Points Available Weighting

Total Score Available

Section A: General Information 12

Company details provided Pass/Fail 3 1 3

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest and statement of how any conflicts will be managed Graded 3 3 9

Section B: Technical Resources & References 45

Primary business activities appropriate to the area of work Graded 3 3 9

Staffing levels within organisation suitable to deliver contract requirements Graded 3 3 9

References: Relevance Graded 3 3 9

References: Positive Feedback Graded 3 3 9

Track record in contract performance Graded 3 3 9

Section C: Financial and Insurance Information 30

Employers Liability (confirmation or commitment) Pass/Fail 3 2 6

Public Liability (confirmation or commitment) Pass/Fail 3 2 6

Professional Indemnity (confirmation or commitment) Pass/Fail 3 2 6

Outstanding claims/litigation Graded 3 2 6

Acceptable financial standing Pass/Fail 3 2 6

Section D: Equal Opportunities 12

Equal Opportunities policy or statement of commitment (as appropriate to size of organisation) Pass/Fail 3 2 6

Content of Equal Opportunities policy, training and monitoring (as appropriate to size of organisation)* 3 2 6

Section E: Health & Safety 24

Name/position of person responsible Graded 3 2 6

Access to appropriate Health and Safety advice Graded 3 2 6

Improvement notices/prosecutions Graded 3 2 6

Health & Safety policy and manual or statement of commitment (as appropriate to size of organisation) Graded 3 2 6

Section F: Environmental Management 15

Notices or prosecutions and improvement actions Graded 3 2 6

Evidence of actions or plans to address areas of high risk for environmental impact Graded 3 1 3

Compliance with fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation Graded 3 2 6

Section G: Business Continuity Planning 21

Business Continuity Plan in place Pass/Fail 3 2 6

Version 1.0 final DOC B

87

Planning documents available Graded 3 1 3

Service included in plans Pass/Fail 3 2 6

Testing of plans in the last year Graded 3 1 3

Name/position of person responsible Graded 3 1 3

Section I: Undertaking by the Applicant 3

Signed and dated on behalf of the company Pass/Fail 3 1 3

Maximum number of points available 162

Scoring Key

A score of '0' against any of the criteria will mean disqualification of the application.

However, if only minor adjustments/additional information are required, the Councils will contact you to clarify your application where practicable.

Pass/Fail Questions

0 = No

3 = Yes

Graded questions

0 = Unacceptable

1 = Meets minimum standard/legal requirement only

2 = Good response: demonstrates suitability to meet contract requirements

3 = Excellent response: highly suitable to deliver contract requirements

*scoring for this criteria based on the Commission for Racial Equality's Code of Practice

Version 1.0 final DOC B

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Part Six

Form of Tender


LEICESTER & LEICESTERSHIRE STRATEGIC HOUSING

MARKET ASSESSMENT

September 2013

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6 Form of Tender

6.1 Form of Tender

6.2 Pricing Schedule

6.3 Method Statement

6.4 Resource provision

6.5 Programme

6.6 Management and Communication

6.7 Tendering Certificate

6.8 Guarantee Undertaking

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6.1 Form of Tender UNCONDITIONAL AND IRREVOCABLE OFFER TO North West Leicestershire

District Council Re: Invitation to Tender dated 23 September 2013 for Leicester & Leicestershire

Strategic Housing Market Assessment To: North West Leicestershire District Council, Council Offices , Coalville,

Leicestershire, LE67 3FJ Having read carefully the Invitation to Tender:

6.1.1 We offer to perform the Leicester & Leicestershire Strategic Housing Market Assessment specified and to complete the contract to meet the requirements of the Invitation to Tender

for the sum of £<insert value> enter amount in words ……………………………………………... in accordance with the pricing schedules annexed to this Form of Tender and fully in accordance with the CONTRACT DOCUMENTS.

6.1.2 We agree that this Tender shall constitute an irrecoverable, unconditional offer, which may not be withdrawn for a period of 90 days from this date.

6.1.3 We confirm that we have enclosed with this Form of Tender the following documents:

The Business Questionnaire (Part 5) The Pricing Schedule (6.2) Method Statement (6.3) Resource provision (6.4) Programme (6.5) Management and communication (6.6) The Tendering Certificate (6.7)

- Collusive Tendering Declaration - Declaration and Canvassing Certificate

6.1.4 We are a subsidiary company within the meaning of Section 736 of the Companies Act 1985 and enclose a Parent Company Guarantee undertaking in the form set out in Section 6.8 duly completed by our ultimate holding company. (DELETE IF NOT APPLICABLE)

6.1.5 Unless and until a formal contract is prepared and executed, this Tender, together with your written acceptance thereof, shall constitute a binding contract between us.

6.1.6 We understand that the Council is not bound to accept any tender it receives.

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Company*

(1) Signature .................................................

(2) Signature ....................................................

Name .................................................

Name ....................................................

(Director) (Director/Company Secretary)*

For and on behalf of: ..................................................................... (print Company’s full name and registered number) Registered Address: ................................................................................. ................................................................................. ................................................................................. ................................................................................. DATE: ................................................................................. Sole Principal/Partnership*

(1) Signature ................................................. Name ................................................. Job Title/Designation .................................................

*(2) Signature .................................................... Name .................................................... Job Title/Designation ....................................................

For and on behalf of: ...................................................................... (print business’s full name) Business Address ...................................................................... ...................................................................... ...................................................................... ...................................................................... DATE: ...................................................................... *delete as applicable

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6.2 Pricing Schedule Name of Person

Job title Cost per hour (£)

Task Total number of hours

Total cost (£) (excl VAT)

TOTAL

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6.3 Method Statement The purpose of the Method Statements is to enable us to evaluate your understanding of our requirements and the quality of your methodology for meeting them. It will not itself form part of the Contract (but any elements within it which are agreed by the Parties to be essential to the delivery of Services will be incorporated within the Specification and form part of any Contract resulting from your tender).

Your Method Statements should describe clearly and concisely how you would provide each of the main requirements laid out in the Specification. Please set out your response under the following headings and order

METHOD STATEMENT Understanding

Please provide, in no more than 2 sides of written A4, a statement to demonstrate your understanding of the project and what you consider to be the key features.

A Methodology

Please set out the proposed methodology for the study and show how the objectives and scope of the study will be met. Your methodology should identify the likely sources of information you will use in the study, including any held by the local authorities. You should also identify how you propose to engage with the key stakeholders

A Sensitivities

Please set out your understanding of the potential political sensitivities associated with this piece of work including the final report , and how you would propose to manage these

A

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6.4 Resource provision

It is important that the Councils have confidence that the resources to be made available are adequate in terms of both quantity and quality to ensure the delivery of a study which meets our requirements and on time. Therefore, please answer the following:

STAFF AND RESOURCES Contract Team

Please detail the experience and expertise of the people who will be involved in this study, including any sub-contractors. This should include CVs and qualifications and evidence of experience of successfully completing similar, relevant studies.

A Capacity

Please identify the amount of time each member of the project team is expected to be involved in the study.

A Contingency arrangements

Please explain what your contingency arrangements are in the event of unforeseen circumstances to ensure that the study remains on schedule.

A

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6.5 Programme

It is important to us to understand the programme you propose to undertake

this study. Therefore, please provide the following information:

PROGRAMME Programme for delivery

Please set out a detailed breakdown of the timescales and the anticipated milestones for the Study (in GANNT chart format or similar).

A

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6.6 Management and Communication

How this study is managed and you propose to communication with the

Councils throughout this study will be as important as ensuring adequate

resources. Therefore, please answer the following:

MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION Management of contract

Please set out your management structure for managing the delivery of the contract, including identifying the roles and responsibilities of different individuals.

A Project manager

Please detail who will manage this contract on behalf of your company, and their relevant expertise and experience.

A Working with the Councils

Describe how you propose to work with all of the Councils to deliver this Study.

A Monitoring

In terms of contract management, please provide a comprehensive statement indicating how you intend to organise and manage the effective delivery of this service. Including;

Your proposals for monitoring and reporting on the quality of the service delivered including the performance checks you will perform, their frequency and scope, and who will perform them

How your Quality Assurance systems will benefit the delivery of this contract

The procedures which you will use for dealing with customer complaints and problems

A

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6.7 Tendering Certificate

To: North West Leicestershire District Council (“The Council”) I/We certify that this is a bona fide tender, intended to be competitive and that I/We have not (either personally or by anyone acting on my/our behalf) a) Fixed the amount of the Tender (or the rate and prices quoted) by agreement with

any person. b) Communicated to anyone other than the Council the amount or approximate

amount or terms of my/our proposed tender (other than in confidence in order to obtain quotations, professional advice or insurance necessary for the preparation of the tender).

c) Entered into any agreement or arrangement with any other person that he shall refrain from tendering or as to the amount or terms of any tender to be submitted by him.

d) Canvassed or solicited any member, officer or other employee of the Council in connection with the award of this or any other Council contract or tender.

e) Offered, given or agreed to give any inducement or reward in respect of this or any other Council contract or tender.

SIGNED* (1) .................................................................... Status .................................................................... SIGNED* (2) .................................................................... Status .................................................................... for and on behalf of .................................................................... Date: .................................................................... *Note: to be signed by the same signatories as the Form of Tender

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COLLUSIVE TENDERING DECLARATION

To: North West Leicestershire District Council I/We* the undersigned do hereby contract and agree on acceptance of this tender, to carry out the Leicester & Leicestershire Strategic Housing Market Assessment detailed in the Contract Documents, at the prices and terms quoted, and in accordance with the Conditions of Contract. In submitting a tender against this contract, I/We* have not done and I/We* undertake that I/We* will not do at any time before the notification of tender results any of the following acts:- a) communicate to any person other than the person calling for the tenders the

amount or approximate amount of the proposed tender, except where the disclosure, in confidence, of the approximate amount of the tender is necessary to obtain insurance premium quotations required for the preparation of the tender;

b) enter into any agreement or arrangement with any person that he shall refrain from tendering or as to the amount of any tender to be submitted;

c) offer to pay or give or agree to pay any sum of money or valuable consideration directly or indirectly to any person for doing or having done or causing or having caused to be done in relation to this or any other tender or proposed tender for the said work any act or thing of the sort described above. In the context of this clause the word ‘person’ includes any persons and any body or association, corporate or unincorporated; and ‘any agreement or arrangement’ includes any such transaction, formal or informal, and whether legally binding or not.

*Delete as applicable Signed: ……………………………………………………. Name: ……………………………………………………. (please print) Position: …………………………………………………… Name of Tenderer: …………………………………………………… Address: …………………………………………………… Telephone number: ……………………………………………………

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Fax number: ……………………………………………………

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DECLARATION AND CANVASSING CERTIFICATE To: North West Leicestershire District Council I/We* hereby certify that I/We* have not canvassed or solicited any member, officer or employee of the Council in connection with the award of this Tender or any other Tender or proposed Tender for the Works and that no person employed by me/us* or acting on my/our* behalf has done any such act. I/We* further hereby undertake that I/We* will not in future canvass or solicit any member, officer or employee of the Council in connection with the award of this Tender or any other Tender or proposed Tender for the Service and that no person employed by me/us* or acting on my/our* behalf will do any such act. *Delete as applicable Signed: ……………………………………………………. Name: ……………………………………………………. (please print) Position: …………………………………………………… Name of Tenderer: …………………………………………………… Address: …………………………………………………… Telephone number: …………………………………………………… Fax number: ……………………………………………………

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6.8 Guarantee Undertaking

(TO BE COMPLETED IF THE TENDERER IS A SUBSIDIARY COMPANY) RE: PROVISION OF LEICESTER & LEICESTERSHIRE STRATEGIC HOUSING MARKET ASSESSMENT TO NORTH WEST LEICESTERSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL TENDERER: PARENT COMPANY NAME: ADDRESS: REG NO: TO: NORTH WEST LEICESTERSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL In consideration of the Council inviting our subsidiary to tender we hereby enter into this Deed of Undertaking. We, being the ultimate holding company of our subsidiary company, hereby irrevocably and unconditionally promise and undertake that in the event of the Form of Tender submitted by our subsidiary being accepted by the Council in accordance with the Form of Tender and conditions attached thereto, and, if requested to do so by the Council, we shall forthwith upon request properly execute and deliver to the Council a Deed of Guarantee and Indemnity to guarantee due performance by our subsidiary and indemnify the Council against loss in the form reasonably required by the Council, but subject to the insertion of such details and the making of revisions as the Council may reasonably require in the light of the terms and the nature and effect of the contract constituted by the said acceptance. DATED this .....................................day of.............................. [SIGNED as a Deed by ............................................... [a Director and Secretary], Director or [two Directors] ............................................... [Director/Secretary]]