Purpose

To seek approval to procure and
award a contract to a specialist consultancy service to provide
professional highway design services in support of the
council’s capital programme.

Content

(i)    
That
approval is granted to procure a specialist consultancy service to
provide professional highway design services, with procurement
support provided by STaR Procurement.

 

(ii)  
That
approval is granted to award a contract to the successful
consultancy service, subject to completion of a compliant tender
evaluation process and the contract award section of the STaR
Project Initiation Document (PID).

 

Reasons for the decision

Approval is required in order to
comply with the council’s governance, financial and
procurement rules.

 

Alternative options considered

(i)                 
Delivering
Highway Design Services In‑House

 

Option rejected due to insufficient
internal capacity and the specialist technical expertise required
to deliver the current and future programme of
schemes.  Existing staff resources are fully committed,
and recruiting additional permanent design engineers is not a
viable short‑term solution, as the specialist labour market
is highly competitive and recruitment timescales would delay
programme delivery.

 

(ii)              
Procuring
Individual Design Commissions on a Scheme‑by‑Scheme Basis

 

Commissioning separate design
packages for each project was discounted as it would lead to
repeated procurement exercises, increased administrative burden,
and slower mobilisation would not provide the continuity or
strategic oversight needed for a multi‑year highways programme.

 

(iii)            
Not Procuring
External Support

 

Choosing not to procure external
consultancy support was rejected as it would significantly delay
the delivery of the council’s capital
programmes.  This would risk funding slippage, reduce the
council’s ability to meet statutory obligations and
negatively impact network condition, public satisfaction and
corporate priorities.