Procurement description
CTMUHB wishes to appoint Morris Churchfield to continue delivering the maintenance of life critical, statutory fire alarm systems and accessories across CTMUHB, which is seen as a critical contract to the Estates department.
Morris Churchfield (MC) has in depth knowledge of CTMUHB systems and maintain a strong working relationship with the health board.
A significant amount of new equipment and assets has been installed across the Princess of Wales Hospital (PoW) as part of the fire alarm upgrade works carried out several years ago, as well as during the Ground and First Floor refurbishment project at Prince Charles Hospital (PCH). Both of these projects include high-value warranties on the installed equipment and assets.
In addition, Morris Churchfield has secured the next phase of work at Prince Charles Hospital (PCH) under the Ground & First Floor (G&FF) scheme. Re-tendering this work could place considerable strain on the G&FF scheme’s budget.
MC have also installed new detector heads and network cards at Royal Glamorgan Hospital (RGH), Prince Charles Hospital (outside the G&FF scheme), and Glan Rhyd Hospital. Furthermore, Morris Churchfield secured work at Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda (YCR), Ysbyty George Thomas (YGT), Cefn Yr Afon, and Pinewood House in the last financial year. All equipment installed during that period remains under warranty.
MC are also currently undertaking substantial works at the Princess of Wales Hospital (PoW) as part of the roof replacement and additional work stream and the theatre fire enforcement works on the same site.
To try and manage this type of crossover would be extremely difficult based on the number of assets and the complexity of the life safety systems. In addition, the warranty cover would be void on the installer element of the works, albeit we would retain the manufacturer warranty but would lose any installer warranty. This scenario would again cause major operational and contractual issues with trying to identify responsibility and reduce fault rectification & breakdown times that would put lives at risk and affect safety.
The works being undertaking also allow CTMUHB and the Estates Department to embed standardisation with systems and products, enabling improved quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness, reduces on boarding time and associated risk. Having standardised equipment & systems allows faster fault diagnosis and faster adaptions with this compatibility.
Keeping the one contractor working on and being responsible for our fire alarm systems removes ambiguity and reduces the risk of these critical systems becoming compromised by having multiple contractors working on the same system/s.
Morris Churchfield have also been named as an incumbent contractor as part of the Llantrisant Health Park development, we have provided this information to the main contractor and suggested they use them for continuity but also to allow the installation of the fire alarms system & equipment to standardisation with the majority of our other sites and inpatient, high risk buildings.
There is also an increased likelihood of faults or issues being inadvertently introduced into the systems, which could compromise their integrity and performance.
Risks and Mitigations
Additionally, this approach carries the risk of increased system complexity and potential non-compliance, as well as the possible loss of high-value warranties on equipment and assets.
Operational Estates teams may also face confusion over which contractor to contact when faults or system issues arise, potentially resulting in abortive call-out costs from one or both contractors.
Re-tendering this work could place considerable strain on the G&FF scheme’s budget.
Procurement Act Compliance
The Procurement Act (PA23) allows for a Direct Award under both Schedule 5, section 7 – Additional or repeat Goods/services. (b)the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance.
And under schedule 5 paragraph 6:
(a)due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and
(b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.
Additional grounds apply. As follows:
• Where follow up work is required, where the provider has already undertaken initial work in the same area.
• There would be a technical compatibility issue which needs to be met such as specific equipment being required.
• There is a need to retain a particular contractor for genuine business continuity issues (not just preference).
Section 42 also applies, where the award of a public contract via a direct award to protect life and public safety is permitted:
42 Direct award to protect life
(1) If a Minister of the Crown considers it necessary, the Minister may by regulations provide that specified public contracts may be awarded if a direct award justification applies.
(2) In subsection (1), “necessary” means necessary to—
(a)protect human, animal or plant life or health, or
(b)protect public order or safety.