Portsmouth City Council ('the council') is inviting tenders from suitably qualified suppliers to provide vehicle recovery and storage services.
The council's target date for award of contract is 27th March 2024 with service commencement following on 1st July 2024. The initial contract term will be for 5 years with the provision to extending the term by a further 3 years to a maximum of 8 years in increments to be agreed, subject to the agreement and performance of both parties.
The form of contract used will be the Council's standard terms for the supply of services.
The estimated annual value of the contract is £75,000 per annum based upon current demand. The value of the contract is however, dependent upon demand for services which may increase or decrease significantly from year to year.
The council will run the procurement process in accordance with the 'open procedure' as set out within the Public Contracts Regulations (2015).
The procurement programme for awarding the contract is as follows:
Contract Notice Published - 4th December 2023
Tender documents available on In-tend - 27th November 2023
Deadline for requests for clarification - 19th January 2034 - 23:59
Tender return deadline - 2nd February 2024 - 14:00
Award decision notified to bidders - 15th March 2024
Standstill period Ends - 26th March 2024 - 23:59
Contract Award - 27th March 2024
Contract Start Date - 1st July 2024
Submission of tenders must be made via the Council's e-sourcing system In-tend, which is accessible via: https://intendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home.
The system will be used to administrate the procurement process in its entirety, guidance documentation is available via the link above.
This contract has one lot. Bid if it suits your firm.
The Council has a Legal statutory obligation to remove abandoned vehicles and acts proactively in accordance with the Refuse Disposal & Amenity Act 1978.
In addition to the above statutory obligation, the Council conducts other vehicle enforcement using its power enacted under the following statutory instruments inclusive of but not limited to:
• Untaxed Vehicles - VERA 1997
• Persistent Evaders - Traffic Management Act 2004
• Parking Contraventions - Traffic Management Act 2004
• Dangerous Vehicles - Highways Act 1980
• Non-Motorised Vehicles (Caravans / Boars) - Highways Act 1980
• Noise Abatement (Car Alarms) Environment Protection Act 1990
• Traveller Eviction - CJPO 1994
• Civil Trespass - from Council Owned or Manged Land
The Council also conducts vehicle removal enforcement operations in order to remove and relocate vehicles obstructing areas suspended for street works and public & civic events held annually within Portsmouth.
The usual working hours under this contract would be between 0800 and 1700, although the contract requires the contractor to provide a 24-hours removal service in the event of an emergency and also provide an out of hours contact number as part of the service.
The contractor will be required to provide an effective service which would need to have available resources to cover ad Hoc requests for removal of vehicles, predominately during standard office hours between 0800 and 1700 but there would be occasions when requests are made outside of these hours and/or in an emergency.
The Council Authorised Officer or Designated Approved Officers shall approve all removals outside of the working hours.
The contractor would be required to have a secure compound solely dedicated to Portsmouth City Council and have the capacity to hold up to 35 vehicles of any size. This could on occasions include vehicles exceeding five tonnes inclusive of all HGV and PSV categories. The Storage facility would need to be secure at all times, well lit and covered by CCTV.
The contractor would also need to be able to provide a secure unit or storeroom preferably within the secure compound, or their premises to securely store any goods removed from vehicles by officers of the Council.
Vehicles not claimed by owners would need to be stored following minimum statutory periods:
• Abandoned Vehicles - 7 - 14 days
• Untaxed Vehicles - 7 - 14 days (or as directed by DVLA)
• TMA - Persistent Evader PE Vehicles - 28 - 35 days
Vehicles may need to be stored longer than statutory periods if there is any ongoing investigations or disputes.
Below is an indication of the removal types and an indication of the deadline for removals relevant to which category the removal falls in.
"IMMEDIATE" shall mean a vehicle removal that is required with immediate effect - removal must be no longer than 30mins of the request. In general requests for immediate removals will be sent to the Contractor no later than 17:00 hrs.
"URGENT" shall mean a vehicle removal, which must be carried out the within 2 hours of the request. In general requests for Urgent removals will be sent to the Contractor no later than 17:00 hrs.
"STANDARD" shall mean a vehicle removal, which must be carried out the same day of the request. In general, requests for standard removals will be sent to the Contractor no later than 17:00 hrs.
"EMERGENCY" shall mean a vehicle removal that is required outside of normal office hours - removal must be no longer than 1 hour of the request.
The category of removal required, shall be detailed on the removal request sent to Contractor or notified direct to the contractor if the request is made by telephone. Removal requests shall only be made by "the Council" Approved Officers.
The contract performance will be monitored using specific Key Performance Indicators and service credits that will be applicable for any service failure, both of these are clearly indicated in the tender documents.
The contract will be executed using Portsmouth City Council's Standard Service Terms and Conditions for Removal and Storage of Vehicles.£375,000