Decision

The Director of Neighbourhood Services has decided to approve the Award of a contract for the purchasing of 2 gully cleansing vehicles along with a maintenance package to Whale Tankers Ltd at a total cost of £453,720.

Reasons for the decision

This notice is to confirm the award of a contract to purchase 2 gully vehicles from Whale Tankers Ltd.

The Council’s existing gully vehicle was reaching the end of its natural life and needed replacing. Given the increasing pressure of surface water flooding due to climate change, Council decided to renew the old vehicle and purchase an extra vehicle to increase the Council’s capacity to maintain its highway drainage system.

Given such vehicles are of a specialist nature an existing contract framework was sought to put out a tender for the purchasing. It was decided the tender would include a maintenance package.

Using the TPPL/NEPO HGV and specialist vehicle framework Ref NEPO224 Lot 5: Specialist conversations, a tender was put out on the chest, the successful tenderer was Whale Tankers Ltd

The tender criteria weighting, was

Quality 50%

Price 40%

Social value 10%

The purchase and maintenance is within the budget allowed for this procurement.

Alternative options considered

The existing gully tank was reaching the end of its working life and since the decision was made to purchase new vehicles, the vehicle has been deemed unsafe and beyond repair.

The maintenance of highway drainage assets is a statutory function under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980; therefore such vehicles are a necessity.

The Council could look to hire a specialist vehicle but the cost of this is a lot higher than purchasing, so was not considered as a long-term value for money option.